Contributions to Society
by FanfictionReader2015AD
Summary: New Fast Food Restaurant called Universe Food is Loved by Humans and All Aliens Races from All Universe Except Universe X aka Universe 53 (Nazis Universe)
1. Characters, Other Info

Characters and Some Info

Chapter TeFandom: SuperGirl (TVShow), Arrow (TVShow), Flash (TVShow), Legends of Tomorrow (TVShow), Batwomen (TVShow)

Co-written with lrhaboggle

u/6270962/lrhaboggle

Genre: Horror

Rated: M

TV Show Timeline: March 1 2017-March 2032 (Alternate Universe of TVShow by CW)

Chapters: 24

Endings: 3

Cast

Team Supergirl

Kara Zor El aka Kara Danvers aka Supergirl (Alien Race: Kryptonian) / Age: 26-Year-Old

James Olsen aka Guardian (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 36-Year-Old

J'onn J'onzz aka Martian Manhunter (Alien Race: Green Martian) / Age: 300-Year-Old

Doctor Eliza Danvers (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 50-Year-Old

Nia Nal aka Dreamer (Alien Race: Human-Naltorian Hybrid) / Age: 26-Year-Old

Alex Danvers (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 28-Year-Old

Lena Luthor (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 26-Year-Old

Maggie Sawyer (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 28-Year-Old

Winn Schott (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 28-Year-Old

Cat Grant (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 40-Year-Old

M'gann M'orzz aka Megan (Alien Race: White Martian) / Age: 300-Year-Old

Team Flash

Barry Allen aka The Flash (Alien Race: Human)

Cisco Ramon aka Vibe (Alien Race: Human)

Doctor Caitlin Snow aka Killer Frost (Alien Race: Human)

Joe West (Alien Race: Human)

Iris West (Alien Race: Human)

Ralph Dibny aka Elongated Man (Alien Race: Human)

Cecille Horton (Alien Race: Human)

Harrison Sherloque Wells (Alien Race: Human)

Nora West Allen aka XS (Alien Race: Human)

Team Arrow

Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow (Alien Race: Human)

Felicity Smoak aka Overwatch (Alien Race: Human)

Dinah Drake aka Black Canary (Alien Race: Human)

John Diggle aka Spartan (Alien Race: Human)

Helena Bertinelli aka The Huntress (Alien Race: Human)

Laurel Lance aka Black Canary (Alien Race: Human)

Thea Queen aka Speedy (Alien Race: Human)

Quentin Lance (Alien Race: Human)

Team Legend

Sara Lance aka White Canary (Alien Race: Human)

Mick Rory aka Heat Wave (Alien Race: Human)

Zari Tomaz (Alien Race: Human)

Mona Wu aka Wolfie (Alien Race: Human)

Nate Heywood aka Steel (Alien Race: Human)

Leonard Snart aka Captain Cold (Alien Race: Human)

Ray Palmer aka The Atom (Alien Race: Human)

Planet Earth 38's Public

Lex Luthor (Alien Race: Human)

Lenny Thorul (Alien Race: Human)

Lois Lane (Alien Race: Human)

Lyra Strayd (Alien Race-Valerian)

Unnamed Female Infernian (Alien Race: Infernian) "Friend of Lyra Strayd"

Unnamed Female Almeracian (Alien Race: Almeracian) "Friend of Lyra Strayd"

Unnamed Female Maaldorian (Alien Race: Maaldorian) "Friend of Lyra Strayd"

Cho Leung (Alien Race: Human)

Samuel Sam Lane Wife (Alien Race: Human)

Unnamed Male Infernian (Alien Race: Infernian)

Unnamed Male Almeracian (Alien Race: Almeracian)

Unnamed Male Maaldorian (Alien Race: Maaldorian)

Unnamed Male Human (Alien Race: Human)

Midvale Middle Student Josie (Alien Race: Human)

Actor Dimitri Lind (Alien Race: Human)

Midvale Middle Student Rick Malverne (Alien Race: Human)

Midvale Middle Student Vicki Donahue (Alien Race: Human)

Alien National City University Student (Alien Race: ?)

Paul Nal (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 45 Year Old

Maeve Nal (Alien Race: Human-Naltorian Hybrid) / Age: 31-Year-Old "Older Sister of Nia Nal"

Planet Earth 38's Government

Android Querl Dox aka Brainiac 5 (Alien Race: ) / Age: 28-Year-Old

DEO Agent Vasquez (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 28-Year-Old

DEO Agent Hartmann (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 28-Year-Old

DEO Agent Reiff (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 28-Year-Old

DEO Agent Wolf (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 28-Year-Old

DEO Agent Raymond Jensen (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 28-Year-Old

DEO Agent Taylor (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 28-Year-Old

DEO Doctor Amelia Hamilton (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 45-Year-Old

US Army Lauren Haley (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 45-Year-Old

US Army Lucy Lane (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 45-Year-Old

US Army Samuel Sam Lane (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 45-Year-Old

Olivia Marsdin (Alien Race: Durlan) / Age: 45-Year-Old

Cadmus

Lillian Luthor (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 55-Year-Old

Otis Graves (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 45-Year-Old

Eve Teschmacher (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 45-Year-Old

Universe Food

Unnamed (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 35-Year-Old

Unnamed (Alien Race: Human) / Age: 35-Year-Old


	2. Kara Zor El

Chapter: 13 Year Old Kara Zor El Meet Her Adopted Family Danvers aka New Family

Dates: Mother Day 2004-Mother Day 2014

15 Year since Kara Zor El Disappearance

"Clark!" Eliza and Jeremiah waved as the Man of Steel flew in from overhead. It was Mother's Day and Superman was coming to make a visit. Eliza and Jeremiah may not have been his parents, but they had still helped him grow accustomed to life on Earth and, as such, he did still consider them family. So for Mother's Day, he was coming in to say hello and thank them, once again, for all that they had done for him over the years…

"Eliza, Jeremiah," he greeted both of them with a smile. It was when he landed that the duo realized that he had not come alone to visit and celebrate.

"Who is this?" Eliza was first to ask, a fond and curious smile on her face as she studied the young girl who had come along with Superman.

"Kara Zor-El, my cousin!" Superman replied proudly, patting the trembling girl's shoulder. She looked as if she were trying to melt away into his shadow.

Eliza and Jeremiah both shared stunned looks, but then they began to smile brighter than the sun after a few seconds.

"That's wonderful!" they cried in unison, surprised but happy that Superman had found another Kryptonian. That Kryptonian, meanwhile, continued to look quite scared, but the longer and longer she remained in Eliza and Jeremiah's presences, the more and more she warmed up to them.

"I can tell that this isn't about to be any ordinary Mother's Day, is it?" Eliza asked Superman with sparkling eyes.

"I'm afraid not ma'am," he replied, eyes twinkling with the same loving and laughing light. At the same time, then, Kara Zor-El finally dared to leave Superman's shadow and step out into the sunlight, looking up at Eliza and Jeremiah with wide and curious eyes.

A few days later, Eliza and Jeremiah officially adopted young Kara Zor-El and she was thusly renamed Kara Danvers. It certainly was not a normal Mother's Day at all. After all, how many mothers received another child as their Mother's Day gift?

"But I cannot raise her," Superman admitted regretfully. "And Ma and Pa Kent are getting too old to raise another child," he added, eyes deep and imploring. "I do promise that I will try to help out as much as I can, I will send any and all funds that you may need, but will you please look after her?" he asked Eliza and Jeremiah. "In the spirit of Mother's Day, will you be willing to play the part of a mother once again?" he gently pushed Kara over towards Eliza. Eliza's heart warmed up immediately and she, after only one quick look at her husband, agreed at once. So once again, Eliza Danvers became a mother. On Mother's Day, she became a mother twice over and received the strangest and most wonderful gift of all: another child.

Not long after, Kara Danvers started her first day of school. It took some time, but as the years rolled by, she began to get acquainted with her new life and home and even though there were a lot of rocky starts to be had, it did finally all start to fall into place eventually. In time, Kara even managed to get her new sister, Alex Danvers, to warm up to her. They, although it took quite a lot of time, fighting, resentment and bitterness, eventually became best friends and sisters and, at long, long last, Kara finally felt happy once again. She finally felt like a part of this new family.

Several months later, Kara finally had her first Christmas with her adopted family. Kara got her very first cellphone, but for protection, Jeremiah also gave her a second one that was only supposed to be used in emergencies and it was only supposed to be used with family. No other person outside of the Danvers household was supposed to know that second phone's number.

"It's for you and your safety only," he instructed her as they set up both her phones. "If you ever find out that someone is stalking, harassing or bullying you, or trying to, you just use that second phone to call me, ok?" he asked.

"Ok," she promised, and although the instructions did frighten her a little, the care and well-meaning nature behind the gift made her heart warm up like the roaring fire in the hearth right before her.

Then, for Kara's first Earth birthday, the family went out to dinner at their local Olive Garden, which was know for being very pro-alien, as well as having delicious food in general. It was a good restaurant and they were sure Kara would love it! And she most definitely did. She wound up ordering a double order of Creamy Mushroom Ravioli, a double order of Fettuccine Alfredo, and a double order of Seafood Alfredo. It was a lot, but since it was her first Earth birthday, the Danvers allowed her to have it all. But the rest of them chose much smaller meals. Eliza ordered Chicken Margherita, Jeremiah ordered Salmon Piccata and Alex ordered Braised Beef Bolognese with Pappardelle.

But even when dinner was finished, the meal itself was still far from over.

"Dessert time!" Jeremiah exclaimed happily, and then the family ordered another round of food. They ordered 1 Piece Black Tie Mousse Cake, 1 Piece of Lemon Cream Cake, 1 Piece of Tiramisu, and 1 Piece of Seasonal Sicilian Cheesecake. It was quite a lot of food and the family left very, very full, but it had been a good night nonetheless and Kara fell so in love with the place that it was eventually agreed that they would go to Olive Garden once every three months as long as she and Alex could keep up good grades while in school.

"Deal!" Kara had promised fervently, already hungry for more. This earned a laugh from her foster family and all four of them had never felt closer.

But then not too long after this, Jeremiah Danvers went missing. He and his work partner, Hank Henshaw, had been tasked with tracking down an alien and neither of them ever returned from the mission. It caused a rift in Alex and Kara's relationship, Alex blaming Kara simply because she was an alien. But in time, Alex did finally forgive Kara and she apologized for taking her anger out on her foster sister.

"I shouldn't have overreacted and lashed out at you. It was unfair of me. It was no more your fault than it was mine or mom's," Alex hung her head as she begged for Kara's forgiveness. Kara was more than happy to oblige, taking the grieving Alex into her arms and holding her close for the rest of that night. The very next night, the two sisters and Eliza went out to dinner at Olive Garden, in memoriam of Jeremiah. And for every year after that, it became tradition to go, both on Mother's and Father's day, in honor of Kara's arrival and Jeremiah's departure from the family respectively.

AN: This is for DanversFamilyFan


	3. Alex Danvers Meet Maggie Sawyer

Chapter: Alex Danvers Meet Maggie Sawyer aka I Always Be With You

Dates: February 14 2013-March 3 2023

6 Years before Kara Zor El Disappearance

February 14 2013 "Oh, come on, Alex! Learn to live a little! Learn to have a little fun!" Kara pleaded once again. She knew how lonely Alex was and she had been ferociously advocating that Alex needed to get out more and work less. Alex had always managed to come up with excuses in the past, insisting that she was married only to her post, but Kara's incessant nagging that she go out and really unwind finally got to Alex and, at long, long last, she agreed to it.

"Fine. But just this one night," she grunted and while Kara threw her a cheeky smirk, Alex made her way to the door. 15 minutes later, she was entering one of the local bars in the downtown area of National City. It was a highly pro-alien place and Alex had been there many times before. It was her favorite spot in town, quite honestly. Tonight was no different.

"Pick a table, any table!" one of the hosts told Alex when she walked in. She nodded in response before taking a nice, empty little spot in the back corner not too far away from the pool table. Not that she was going to be playing any games tonight. It was just going to be her and her alone. No friends, no family. Just her. The only company she needed tonight was a drink. A Greece Brand Beer Mythos to be precise! Ahhhh, this was the life! Of course, Alex knew Kara would've been despairing, had she seen Alex at that point, drinking but making no effort to socialize or make friends, but for once, Alex didn't really care.

"Let Kara stew. Tonight's my night!" the elder Danvers raised a toast to herself and took another big swig of her drink.

30 minutes later, then, an off-duty National City cop walked on by. From the second she walked in, Alex had found herself strangely attracted. Her eyes never left the cop even once. Not even once, as she walked past rows and rows of tables. They were all taken by then. Busy night for the bar. And that was when the beer started talking. Barely even aware of it, Alex opened her mouth and called out to the cop.

"Come on and sit by me! I don't mind!" and it was a totally earnest and sincere offer, nothing sordid or sexual at all about the invitation. There was nowhere else for the weary cop to rest, so Alex was offering up a spot for her. The cop seemed to sense that Alex was only being friendly and not trying to weasel anything out of the offer, so she accepted. Sitting across from Alex, she offered to shake hands and she introduced herself.

"I'm Maggie Sawyer."

"I'm Alex Danvers," Alex replied, then right at that moment, a server walked over with Alex's extra booze. Alex's eyes lit up as she took the drinks from the tray, offering one to Maggie. "And this," she joked. "Is my good friend, Mythos Beer!" Maggie was so tickled by Alex's slightly tipsy joke that she laughed genuinely and took the drink without fear, raising her bottle to Alex's before they both began to drink…

Alex was unable to remember anything about the rest of that night, except a dim haze of pleasure, but she was able to remember the following months in very clear detail. Just over a month later after that first meetup, Maggie met Alex's family, Kara and Eliza.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. and Ms. Danvers," Maggie greeted Eliza and Kara politely.

"No need to be so formal," Eliza smiled tenderly at Maggie. "You may call me Eliza."

"And just call me Kara," Kara agreed, also smiling at Maggie. Maggie exchanged a quick grin with Alex, who was looking nervous, proud and excited all at once. Wow, this family was really sweet! Maggie was warming up to them already! And it seemed like the feeling was mutual…

(A few weeks after that, Maggie met Kara's friend, Lena Luthor.) Then a couple weeks after that, Alex and Maggie began dating each other with Kara Eliza giving their approval.

"Well, what do you think?" Alex asked with that shy, nervous smile she always got whenever Maggie was around. Kara only gave a thumbs up, flashing her older sister a huge grin, while Eliza nodded with a loving gaze.

"We're so proud of you, honey," she told Alex, then she repeated the same to Maggie, welcoming both of the girls into a hug. Kara was quick to join in.

"I'm so happy for you!" she whispered into Alex and Maggie's ears and Alex and Maggie exchanged winks during the embrace. So it was official. They were girlfriends now, and they had the Danvers' family blessing!

And not long after that, Kara finally allowed Maggie to know her secret about being the Kryptonian known as Supergirl.

"So that's how you know you're really part of the family now, eh, Maggie?" Alex elbowed Maggie playfully while Maggie looked at Kara with new interest. Kara blushed a little under Maggie's intense gaze, but she did not hesitate to show off a little and properly welcome Maggie into the family. Alex, meanwhile, watched the entire scene unfold with amusement and affection.

March 25 2023 Five years later, Kara Danvers had gone missing. Two more after that and Alex and Maggie were getting married. The wedding had been beautiful and spectacular and it had been one of the best days of Alex's life. The reception had been sweet and the food had been divine. (Since Lena was one of the guests, she'd used her connects to Universe Food to snag a bunch of Universe Food steaks and ribs for the wedding). Those steaks and ribs were one of the highlights of the wedding, second only to the two women getting married that day. There wasn't a single bit of Universe Food left over by the end of the night.

"If only Kara could've been here to see it," Alex murmured, eyes glittering with unshed tears as she embraced her new wife once again.

"I'm sure she would've been so proud of you," Maggie replied, tenderly kissing Alex on the cheek. Tough as both of them were, they could be so very gentle with one another, especially in moments like this. Maggie had been Alex's rock through the entire ordeal of Kara's disappearance and even now, two years later, Maggie was still there, ever at Alex's side.

"And I will be like that, always," Maggie promised as she touched her and Alex's wedding bands. "I'll always be with you, and you will always have me."

"Always," Alex agreed, and then they sealed their marriage with a kiss. Even though they were alone by that point, the official ceremony having ended hours ago, this kiss felt just as magical as the one they'd shared while still at the altar.

Meanwhile Lex Luthor is beyond happy with Guests are Eatings Ribs from Kryptonian Clones's Ribcase and Steaks was craved from Kryptonian Clones.

AN: This is for Alex-MaggieShipsFan


	4. My Hero

Chapter: Winn Schott saved Lyra Strayd aka My Hero

Dates: March 2 2020

1 Year since Kara Zor El Disappearance

March 2 2018 Shouting filled the city air as six figures engaged in combat. It was five on one, and all six of them were shouting, but there were two very different messages being yelled. The five were all vehemently anti-alien citizens and they were screaming all sorts of xenophobic, hateful and violent threats at the one they were fighting, who was an alien. She was begging them to stop, pleading for mercy and demanding that they leave her alone before she called the cops, or cried out for help.

"Like the police would help alien scum like you!" the leader of the five anti-alien citizens sneered. "You don't belong here! You aren't a true citizen, so the cops will not protect you. Go back to your own planet and leave us in peace! Get OUT!"

"NO! I AM A REAL CITIZEN!" the alien shrieked as the five continued to harass her. "I've lived here for years now and I am a legal citizen! Leave me alone!" but the five would not yield. They continued to bully her, insisting that she was an evil leech, a vile and violent monster who deserved to be put down, or dissected alive by the mysterious anti-alien terrorist group called Cadmus.

Right before any of them could come to blows, however, the five bullies were suddenly silenced. They collapsed to the ground as if they had been shot dead, and yet there were no injuries on any of them. The alien widened her eyes in surprise, confusion and fear, eyes quickly sweeping the area as she tried to find the one responsible for this, praying that no one mistook her as the guilty one.

"Who's there? Who did this?!" she demanded, and that was when a handsome young men stepped out from across the street.

"I've always wanted to try this new fancy taser!" he remarked as he showed her a small, black rectangle with strangely-shaped silver prongs at the end. He scoffed at the five unconscious bullies before placing the taser in his pocket. "The name's Winn Schott, by the way. And are you ok?"

"Yeah. I'm fine," the alien replied, blinking, still a little surprised by all that had happened to her in the past three seconds. "My name is Lyra Strayd!" she added a second later, realizing that she had not returned her savior's greeting.

"Lyra, what a lovely name," Winn smiled.

"Thank you. And thank you for saving me," Lyra smiled politely back at him before casting a small glare at the motionless bodies of her bullies.

"Don't mention it," Winn replied with a shrug, turning his eyes away from Lyra shyly. This intrigued Lyra. Usually the men she met would always harass her for something, and if they did something nice for her they ALWAYS demanded something from her in exchange. But not this one. This man had only brushed off her thanks, insisting that it was no debt to be repaid, and that he was just trying to be a good person and look after the people in his community.

His words and motives were so unique and innocent that Lyra found herself growing more and more interested with everything that he said. It was a rare day for her to meet a pro-alien human male who was kind, shy, polite and just. And he just looked so innocent and young, not at all old, creepy, smug or cruel. He looked like a boy, and Lyra liked that. He did not look mean, he looked kind and innocent. Lyra wanted to keep someone like that in her life.

"How about we meet up again sometime for lunch?" she asked Winn finally. "My treat for my hero."

"Only if you're sure," he replied, lighting up like the sun.

"I am. My hero," Lyra teased, and then the deal was struck.

The date happened the very next day and they both ate like kings. They ordered 'Chicken Alfredo Pizza Fritta', 'Lasagna Dip', and 'Lasagna Fritta'. Their dessert was the restaurant's special 'Chocolate Brownie Lasagna'. It was delicious and the two filled their bellies with the wonderful food before filling their hearts with each other's wonderful company. They began to fall in love after that, meeting up the next day and the next day and the next day. At long last, then, they finally became an official couple. For safety's sake, though, they kept it a secret, but they continued to date anyway. They were madly in love and spent every second that they could together. No matter the risk, their love endured.

March 5 2019 The two had been a couple for 1 Year and had just woke up together when Winn received a call that would forever change his and Lyra's lives. It was a normal morning but, after that one little fateful phone call, it turned into a nightmare of a day.

"Winn? It's Alex. Kara's gone missing!" and the rest was a very cruel and very painful history…

AN: This is for Lyra-WinnFan


	5. How We Got Here

Dates: June 2 2019 (Present Day) / June 2 2014 (Flashback of Danver Family Meet Lena Luthor)

After that strange dream, Alex woke up feeling drained and depressed. It was the age-old "afraid to sleep in case I see you, afraid to wake up in case I lose you" case.

"You ok?" Maggie heard Alex sighing as she woke up.

"Yeah, fine," Alex muttered. "Did I wake you? I'm sorry..."

"Alex," Maggie interrupted Alex with a knowing look. For a moment, then, Alex looked away, unable to verbally deny Maggie's implied accusation, but unable to confirm it either, but then she heaved a sigh.

"Another dream," she confessed and Maggie's face softened as she took Alex into her arms, hugging and kissing her gently. No words were said, but none were needed. Instead, they remained in that position for half an hour more, Alex trying to reconcile the fact that Kara was truly dead while Maggie simply supported her through it all, just like always. How had Alex been so lucky to have someone as kind and caring as Maggie in her life? She didn't quite know, but she never ever took it for granted.

Around midday, then, Alex was in slightly better spirits. It was clear that she was still a bit traumatized by that dream, but going through her normal morning routine had returned some spring to her step. At one point, then, she even decided to go out for lunch with Lena and Maggie, because she finally felt ready to talk about her dream properly, without breaking down. But in the end, it wound down to just her and Lena, since Maggie's lunchbreak didn't line up with hers or Lena's.

"Thanks for coming," Alex smiled as Lena hurried over to her, taking a seat in the booth across from her.

"Thanks for inviting me," the Luthor replied, returning the smile. For the next hour, then, the duo shared laughter, memories, stories and food as they reminisced about Kara.

"Remember how we got here?" Alex asked at one point, a bittersweet smile on her face. "How we all became friends?"

"How could I forget?" Lena replied, and then she and Alex became lost to their memories once again...

Five years before Kara went missing, the Danvers had all gone out to eat at a restaurant called "the Cactus Club". Kara ordered 12 burgers, Alex ordered two and Eliza had a steak.

"You pig," Alex had teased, seeing Kara devour her mountain of meat.

"It's good!" the Kryptonian defended, mouth full of pork, bacon, chicken and beef.

"Kara!" Eliza chided warmly. "No talking with your mouth full!"

"Yeah, jeez!" Alex teased, sticking her tongue out playfully. This earned her a look from Eliza.

"Ha!" Kara jeered as Eliza's playful ire turned on Alex.

This lighthearted banter carried on until Kara spotted Lena Luthor herself walking on by.

"Lena!" she shouted, temporarily forgetting her mother's words.

"Kara?" Lena's head whipped around when she heard Kara's voice and she began to smile the moment their eyes met.

"Join us!" Kara pleaded, waving the Luthor over. Lena's smile widened in response to the offer and she made a beeline over to the Danvers.

"Thanks!" she said, taking a grateful seat beside Kara. Neither of them noticed Alex and Eliza giving Kara disappointed and distrusting looks.

By the end of the meal, however, those frowns had turned upside down. When the waiter came around, he was quick to take Lena's order and serve her up some food to match the Danvers (Kara had also taken the time to order a few more burgers and a steak).

"Kara!" Alex and Eliza both sighed as Kara downed even more food. She only shrugged cheerfully at them while Lena laughed a little.

"If you want, I can help pay," she joked. "I know how much this girl can put down. Luckily, my wallet is bigger than her stomach!"

"Wanna bet?" Kara replied with a smirk of her own as she took a big bite of her steak. And as the time passed, the other Danvers began to warm up to Lena as well and, by the end of the meal, they were all laughing and smiling together.

"I think we've made a new friend," Kara grinned as she wrapped an arm around Lena. Eliza and Alex both nodded, agreeing warmly. Any of their past wariness had evaporated during that one little meal, finally seeing the softer, sweeter side of the mysterious Luthor.

"And here we are now," Lena heaved a bittersweet sigh as the memory ended. Suddenly, she and Alex were back in the present, eating burgers and steak just like before.

"If only she could be here with us now," Alex sighed ruefully.

"She is," Lena replied, a rare smile spreading across her face as she reached out to comfort the surviving Danvers sister. "In spirit, she is with us today, and she will stay with us for as long as we remember her..." and even though her words were rather cliché and sappy, they did the trick and Alex found the strength to smile once again. It was a good day.

AN: This is for MetaHumansServeHuman


	6. Eating Contest

Month before Kara Zor El Disappearance

Date: February 1 2019 3pm

National City, they were all standing together again in National City. Alex, Kara, Lena and Maggie. The old quartet was back together again. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, the air was warm, the day was bright and happy, the atmosphere was peaceful and normal. It was a perfectly normal and happy day.

"Wanna have an eating contest?" Kara gave her three friends a wicked little smile.

"Oh, you're on, Little Danvers!" Maggie was the first to respond, reaching out to fist-bump Kara.

"Oh, boy!" Alex pretended to roll her eyes at the immaturity coming from her little sister and girlfriend.

"Oh, lighten up!" the sister and girlfriend teased. Alex pretended to look affronted, but with both of them making puppy eyes at her, it wasn't very easy for her to say no.

"Come on Alex, learn to have a little fun," Lena encouraged, earning a betrayed look from the older Danvers.

"Lena! Since when did you indulge in this kind of tomfoolery?!" she pretended to demand.

"Since that," Lena jerked a thumb at Kara's puppy face. Ah. That was a good answer.

"Alright, fine," Alex pretend to harrumph. "Let's go to Big Belly Burger right here and right now and see who can eat the most the fastest," she proposed. It was a very simple, informal suggestion, but the other three agreed quickly.

10 minutes later, then, the quartet was seated in a booth towards the back of the store. A mountain of burgers sat between them. Alex set the timer and counted down.

"Three… two… one!" then the quartet was off, shoveling food into their faces as fast as they could. Burger after burger, they all barely even stopped to chew. They just sank their teeth into the meat and devoured bite after bite after bite. Burger after burger after burger. The grind didn't stop for any of them and they all fought long and hard to win. Lena was able to clear out quite a few burgers, surprisingly enough. She was just so small that no one thought she would eat as much as she did. But she just kept on going, burger after burger. Even after her stomach began to bulge a little from all the food she was consuming, she continued to eat.

Beside her, Maggie was also starting to swell up a bit. She had since loosed her jacket but she still wasn't stopping either. As a cop (and one who admittedly adored donuts) she was very well practiced in the art of eating a lot. Even as her stomach continued to grow and bloat, she never quite felt full. It was what allowed her to keep going so long without feeling lousy or sick.

But Alex and Kara were really where it was ate. Both of them could eat like pigs, each having a voracious appetite. Alex's face was covered in sauce as she kept taking bite after bite, literally tearing through the patties like they were nothing. Giant chunks of food just seemed to vanish the moment they were in her mouth and she was not slowing down. Her slim figure was starting to grow and enlarge, but she paid it no mind. Instead, she just grabbed another burger and took another quick sip of her drink before she continued to have at it, eating and eating and eating.

Hands down, though, Kara was the best of them all. She could practically inhale burgers, hardly even needing to chew before she could just gulp down entire burgers. And not only that, but she did still have her super speed. Out of politeness (and the fact that Lena was with her on that day) she refrained from using her special powers, but even though she was eating as a human, so to speak, she was eating at an almost terrifying speed. It was almost like watching a snake because of how fast and easily she was able to consume entire patties.

"Jeez, Kara!" Alex muttered, voice muffled by another burger. At long last, though, she was slowing down. Her stomach was starting to peek out from underneath her shirt and her appetite (or lack thereof) was finally catching up to her. Lena had already stopped, hand on her chest as she fought to catch her breath. She, too, had gained quite a few pounds. Her belly was much bigger and rounder than before, very prominent through her shirt.

"I don't think I'm gonna be able to eat for years!" she gasped, stifling a belch as she patted her bloated stomach. She wasn't getting sick, but she definitely looked full and tired. Who could blame her, though? So she only sat back in her seat with a soft groan, hand still on her large stomach, as she watched the other contestants keep going. Those burgers had been delicious, but Lena was sure that if someone asked her to eat even one tiny bite more, she'd either literally exploded and pop like a balloon, or all of those burgers in her stomach would come flying back up and out. Not a pretty sight. So she struggled to catch her breath, content with just watching how the rest of this silly little game would end.

Alex was the next to fall. She did manage to get a second wind, but that one died out pretty quickly before she followed in Lena's footsteps, setting aside her half-eaten burger and leaning back to catch her breath and moan. Her stomach was more than poking out of the bottom of her shirt now.

"I look pregnant!" she whined, and she kind of did. Of course, she wasn't that large, but her "food baby" was definitely impressive. But that was mostly just because it was actually poking out from underneath her shirt, which made her look even larger and rounder than she probably was. She was bloated, sure, but probably not THAT bloated.

"Ugh," she muttered as she watched Maggie continue to eat. But Maggie finally dropped out as well, bloated and swollen. She, unlike Alex and Lena, actually looked quite content and satisfied, but it was clear she wouldn't be able to eat anything else either. That left Kara as the winner. But even though her stomach was even larger than Maggie's at this point, she still wasn't done yet.

"You can quit showing off now you know?" Alex gargled.

"I want to see how many I can eat!" Kara shouted back, voice muffled by burgers. She continued to cram them into her mouth, reveling in their warm, juicy, flavorful taste. She grinned and laughed a little as she continued to consume patty after patty, trying to see what her own "world record" would be. God, Big Belly was just SOOOO good! Nothing could top it! The burgers were prime and all the toppings were so fresh and delicious! It was an explosion of flavor and Kara just kept right on going.

By the time her stomach was thoroughly round and bloated, sticking out quite a decent ways away from her body, she finally threw in the towel.

"Wow, 538," Alex deadpanned as she stared at her sister's now-giant stomach.

"And all done in about 34 minutes," Lena added, looking at Alex's phone's timer. Kara had been the only one eating for quite a while then, the other three having quit a long time ago.

"I win, yay," Kara moaned.

"You don't need to rub it in, Little Danvers," Maggie warned, but she was smiling.

"You regret it yet?" Alex asked, elbowing Kara weakly.

"Not at all," Kara grinned back at her as she stared down at her exposed belly. Man, it was going to take a lot of exercise to work all that body fat off! It would take weeks! But honestly, Kara really didn't regret it at all. She felt good, despite all the extra weight. She felt full and content. She felt happy.

"Now," she said. "Who's up for dessert!?" and she was met with three terrified groans. In response, she laughed. As weird, crazy and silly as this idea had been, it really had been very fun. She patted her swollen stomach, peeking out past her shirt, and she smiled. Today was a good day!

**AN: This is for ThatChickenHead**


	7. Chapter 1: A New Friend

Date: March 1 2022 11pm

"Kara Danvers?" Kara whipped around to find herself face to face with a handsome gentleman in a dark red suit.

"Lenny Thorul?" she guessed. The man smiled in return, an obvious "yes".

"Pleased to meet you," he said, extending a hand. Kara shook it willingly, wearing a smile to match his own.

"Likewise!" she said. "Shall we take a seat?" she gestured to one of several empty tables behind them. They were currently standing in the doorway of a quiet little bar towards the edge of National City. It was a quaint, cute little place, and Kara appreciated how empty it was. It was nice and quiet!

"Of course," Lenny bowed his head in a playful politeness. Kara laughed a little before leading him towards a table in the back corner.

Kara and Lenny had been in correspondence for a few months now and it was all thanks to their mutual friendship with Alex Danvers, Kara's older (human) sister. Apparently, Lenny was a fellow DEO agent, though he was serving at a different base. But even though he and Alex were serving at different DEO sites, they had worked together on a mission once and been friends ever since. It was only recently that Lenny learned that Alex had a younger sister, and even more recently that said sister was also the famous Kryptonian hero named Supergirl. Kara had been a bit surprised to hear that Alex had told Lenny her secret identity, but Lenny was able to assure her that Alex had only told him, and this was because he was an old and trusted friend. No one else at his DEO site knew the truth about Supergirl's civilian identity, only him.

Shortly after Lenny realized who Alex's younger sister truly was, it became his biggest dream to get to meet her in person.

"Isn't it everyone's dream to meet the legendary Girl of Steel?" he asked playfully as he and Kara sipped on their beers. "I'm just lucky that I had a direct connection to you," he added with a chuckle, raising his bottle.

"Well, normally I wouldn't meet just anyone that Alex happened to know," Kara laughed back as she raised her own bottle. "You just seemed like a nice guy and I figured that it wouldn't hurt to finally get to meet you face to face. I'm always up for making a new friend! It's a pity Alex couldn't come along though…" just for a moment, Kara's face grew sad. She had wanted this little outing to consist of three people and not just two, but the way schedules worked out, Lenny was only available during the time when Alex wasn't.

"I can see her another time," Lenny said casually. "I've met her in person several times before, actually," he added. "We may have only worked together once, but we are not strangers. You and I, though?"

"Not anymore," Kara replied with a smirk as she took another sip of her beer. "You can cross "meet Supergirl" off your bucket list!"

"I wonder if I can cross "get her autograph" off the list too?" Lenny asked with a laugh.

"Oh, I suppose I could do that…" Kara replied, pretending as though Lenny had asked a great burden from her.

The rest of the evening passed pleasantly, the two simply laughing and chatting over DEO life, and Alex. But somewhere into Kara's third beer, she began to feel a bit woozy. In the minutes to come, the wooziness got stronger and stronger.

"I think I might be drunk!" she giggled, looking very uncoordinated and silly.

"Maybe it's time we get you home then, huh?" Lenny asked warmly back. "Can't have your sister raking me across the coals for keeping you out past your bedtime and then bringing you home White-Girl Wasted, right?"

"It is not past my bedtime!" Kara tried to whine, but when she tried to point an accusing finger at Lenny, her arm dropped to the table.

"Drunker than I thought!" Lenny laughed again, but to Kara, it sounded like he was speaking from underwater. It was strange. And why did she feel so woozy and weird?...

For just a second, Kara felt a flash of fear, and she went to shake her head to try and wake up a little bit, but it suddenly felt immensely heavy. Even that one simple gesture made her feel weak and tired. Her entire body felt as though it were melting, and no part of her body would physically respond to her. She couldn't even shake her head, or raise her arm! She was totally paralyzed and woozy. Before she could realize that this was beyond a typical drunkenness, though, her mind followed in her body's footsteps and it too stopped responding.


	8. Chapter 2: Slaughterhouse

Date: March 2 2022 9am-11pm

The next time Kara woke up, she was naked and strapped to an operating table, an IV drip in her arm and a red sunlamp over her head. In the IV bag was clear substance, little gold flecks floating inside of it. She woke up violently but, because of the sunlamp, found herself powerless to do more than squirm. None of her powers worked and she was as weak as a normal human, meaning that the straps holding her to the table were working. Even though she was weak, tired and woozy, however, she continued to thrash.

"I don't see why you insist upon wasting your time and energy. You're only going to make yourself upset, trying to do that. But you won't get out. I can assure you of that," an eerily pleasant voice behind Kara suddenly began to speak. She tilted her head back as much as she could and was horrified to find herself looking into the dark and sadistically delighted eyes of Lex Luthor.

"Impossible!" she breathed, so stunned by Lex's appearance that she forgot that she was totally naked.

"Ah-ah," Lex waggled a finger in mock chastisement. "Not impossible," he said. "Just improbable. But as low as the odds were, I still had a chance, and I _know _how to make the best of my chances," the smile he gave her was chilling.

"How?" the fear in her voice was palpable as, just for a second, she lost all pretense of trying to act brave.

"How?" he asked back, showing off more of his teeth as his smile widened sickeningly. "Why, Ms. Danvers, I am so glad you asked!" then, he proceeded to explain, gloating over her as his sick and twisted plan unfolded before her eyes.

Lex had been coming and going from his jail cell for months now, him having since bribed the guards into letting him leave every once in a while. During one of his many outings, he ran into an old friend and associate of his, Lenny Thorul. Lenny, like Lex, had been a vehemently anti-alien man. He still held those same hateful views, but he had been relatively inactive and underground ever since Lex was imprisoned. Now that Lex was free again, though, it didn't take much to persuade him to hop back onto the old bandwagon of attempting to wipe out every little last alien species from the planet until only a pure human race remained.

During his time in jail, Lex had come up with an ingenious new plan that was far more subtle than anything he had previously concocted. All he needed to set that plan in motion was a human who was safely on the outside of things. That human was, of course, Lenny. Stupid, devoted, determined, and perfectly obedient, Lenny. So while Lex still spent most of his time locked away, Lenny never rested, constantly out and busy, doing the Luthor's dirty work. He bought up an abandoned factory and fixed up the machines until everything was up and running again. This time, though, what used to be an old slaughterhouse for common farm animals was remodeled into a nightmarish laboratory that could contain and clone Kryptonians. As soon as that lab was done, Lex then commanded Lenny to go and find Supergirl and gain her trust in any way he knew how. He had chosen the lie that he was a mutual friend of Supergirl's' dear, beloved sister: Alex. The rest was history.

"And that's how he knew so much about the DEO!" Kara breathed in horror and disbelief.

"Correct," Lex said smugly. "He is quite the actor! I can't believe he even managed to get you to meet him up at a bar even after You Accepted His Invite!" the mad scientist added with a cackle. "I thought for sure that a girl like you would've had the brains to avoid a first meeting like that, but I suppose that being an invulnerable, perfect little Kryptonian has given you a god-complex, a false sense of security. I like that," he paused to smile serenely at Kara.

"How deliciously ironic it is," he mused. "I was always told that my pride was what caused my fall. Had I not overshot and overstepped my boundaries, I would've been happy. But now look! Supergirl! The hero of the world, second only to Superman, has made the very same fatal flaw that once ensnared me. You and I have the same foolish pride. The only difference is that your mistake will be much more permanent than mine…"

"You're crazy!" Kara tried to bluff bravely. "Someone will know that I am gone and they will come looking for me and-"

"Ha! Oh, Kara, my dear, no one will come looking for you! Lenny has taken care of that," Lex turned his head to the right and Lenny himself stepped out of the shadows, grinning twistedly up at Kara. Kara felt an unspeakable fury start to burn in her chest the moment she looked into those warm brown eyes once again only to see a bragging sort of triumph within them. That sick, little-

"You see, Kara, it was simple!" Lenny began, voice suddenly cruel and demeaning. "That little bar I invited you to was no normal bar. Didn't you ever stop to ask even once why it was so quiet and clean? No normal bar is quite that empty! Especially not at night!"

"What are you talking about?" Kara snarled as it suddenly occurred to her that he was right. She had considered that bar to be quaint, charmed by its small and quiet group. She hadn't even thought that such a small number of people should've been a red flag.

"That is because, my dear, stupid Kryptonian, that was an anti-alien bar. Don't you ever even do your research? Or is your god-complex so big that you think you can just waltz in to any old place and think that you are safe?"

"Anti-alien bar?" Kara echoed, anger turning into horror and revulsion. Lenny only nodded back at her, grinning gleefully.

"Yeah! Everyone there despises aliens with a passion! It's why they wouldn't address you, or I. They knew who you were too. Oh! Perhaps they didn't quite make the connection that you were Supergirl, but they knew you were an alien."

"But how?" Kara could only shake her head.

"It's because I told them, duh!" Lenny cried in disdain. "I am Lex Luthor's right-hand man! Of course I would know where to find an anti-alien hub. That bar is one of them. Now, it's unofficial, of course, but that means nothing. That is a spot notorious for anti-alien folks to meet up and discuss. I am amazed you didn't realize that sooner! But no matter. It made my job easier. All I had to do was let the bartender know who you were, what you looked like and when you'd come. Then, once you arrived, every drank you had that night was laced with Red Kryptonite."

"Red Kryptonite!" Kara echoed in horror as she remembered how weak she had felt after her third beer. It hadn't been a normal drunken stupor, it had been the Red Kryptonite, weakening her system.

"Yup!" Lenny smiled. "Once you were full of the stuff, it was easy for me to cart you away. And remember, since the entire bar despised you. Or rather, what you were, I had no trouble in receiving help. I had one of the patrons take your phone and drive it off to an abandoned gas station halfway into the next state while the others helped me load you up, up and away! Good luck hoping that someone will be able to find you now, sweetheart! We intend upon keeping you here for a while. Lex, after all, still has quite a few plans for you."

"Yes," Lex agreed with his assistant. Then he looked smugly back down at Kara once again.

"You see, Ms. Danvers," he began. "I am a changed man. Really I am! I have come to see aliens in a new way and I have come to realize that they still have quite a lot that they can offer me, and the rest of humanity. For although aliens are only second class citizens they can still-"

"Shut up!" Kara snarled, starting to thrash again as Lex dared to insult her like that, but he only put a finger to his lips before continuing calmly, ignoring Kara's rude interruption of his speech.

"That they can still make great contributions to society!" there was bravado in his voice as he said this, and it threw Kara off guard.

"Contributions to society?" she demanded. "What do you mean?" she was certain that he did not mean this in a way half as benevolent as he was pretending, but she could not figure out what he meant by this.

"You and your talents have inspired me," Lex replied calmly. "And now I intend upon using that inspiration, those noble traits of yours, and amplifying it a billion-fold!" he grinned mysteriously.

"So what are you going to do now?" Kara continued to demand bravely, finally starting to catch onto his evil little scheme. "Are you going to try and clone me and hope that you'll somehow get away with building a Kryptonian army?" she continued to struggle against her restraints.

"Close, Kara, close," Lex replied gently. But his voice hardened as he gestured for Lenny to approach her.

"But not close enough..." and before Kara knew what was happening, something else was being injected into her arm. More Red Kryptonite. It was then that she realized that the stuff in the IV bag was Gold Kryptonite, a permanent power-remover. Kara's panic and efforts to escape redoubled.

"Now, now, Kara, you surely don't want to spend the rest of your life squealing like a piglet, do you? After all, your legacy isn't over! I am going to make you a star, and you are still going to make many more wonderful contributions to society, just as you always have before. The people of Earth will love you for it!" Lex taunted her merrily, but Kara was thrashing around so violently that she didn't hear him at all. Lenny, however, did, and he laughed sadistically.

"Are we ready, boss?" he asked. Lex nodded once and Lenny gleefully scurried over to a large switch on one of the far walls of the lab. He yanked the switch down hard and, suddenly, the entire laboratory came to life. But while the ex-slaughterhouse took its first breath, Kara took her last.


	9. Chapter 3: Universe Food

Date: June 2022 12pm, Universe Food's Grand Opening was March 19 2022 (Public) and Universe Food's Invited Press was on March 5 2022

Over the next few months, every DEO site in the country went mad trying to find Supergirl. When no results were yielded, every other government agency was called into play and, soon, even international and intergalactic organizations were enlisted, but not a single soul could find a single clue about the whereabouts of the missing Kryptonian. No one on Earth or in space had any idea where Kara had gotten to and it didn't matter how hard anyone looked, nothing ever came of it.

"Alex..." James Olsen approached the broken DEO agent with a tender and agonized expression.

"Don't," Alex croaked back, voice full of pain and fury. She would've spoken louder, but after Kara went missing, it was like she had died as well, her own strength vanishing entirely. She couldn't even turn around to look at him as he entered her little office.

"I'm sorry," James replied, then he took a seat opposite of Alex's and simply held her hand. No more words were spoken, but none were needed. Instead, Alex's hand only lay limply in James' as the two old friends silently grieved their beloved Kara Danvers.

Back at CatCo, for the first time ever, someone caught Cat Grant crying. She was silent, and almost motionless, but every once in a while, she would wipe at her eyes, or her shoulders would convulse. That was how Winn Schott knew that she was grieving.

"Ms. Grant?" he asked, voice consoling, even though his own eyes were red and swollen.

"Mr. Schott, you had better have your transcript ready for me this time," Cat replied, voice totally devoid of emotion. But she would not meet his eyes and that was how Winn knew just how deeply her heart was aching. Maybe Cat could lie with face and voice, but her eyes could never lie. Winn opened his mouth to say more, but at the sight of his miserable-looking boss, he felt his own throat close up and he quickly left her office before collapsing in his own, muffling his cries with his hand as he whimpered Kara's name.

"Please, Supergirl, come back! We need you!... I... need you..." but Kara was not going to be coming home any time soon, and everyone's mourning carried on.

Even Lena Luthor got in on the action, enlisted to try and help find Supergirl. Not long after, then, she was told by Winn that her beloved Kara Danvers had gone missing as well. Lena nearly ran L-Corp into the ground after that, using every little last resource to try and find the two missing women. It did no good.

"I don't care!" she cried when another one of her workers warned her about how low the company was on funding. Even though she knew he was right, she didn't want to hear it. She would sooner see L-Corp go bankrupt than surrender the search for Supergirl and, more importantly to her, Kara Danvers.

"Money is nothing compared to a life!" she continued to thunder. "And until we can find them again and bring them both home, safe and sound, L-Corp will continue to work full speed ahead to try and find them!" so Lena continued to flush millions of dollars down the drain in a vain attempt to find Supergirl and Kara. It didn't work. No one on Earth had any clue where the Girl of Steel had gone.

J'onn had left Earth entirely, joining a squadron hunting the stars and nearby planets for Supergirl. Superman was part of that group too, but they were making about as much progress as anyone down at CatCo or the DEO. J'onn would never admit it, but the loss of one of the two girls he considered a daughter was a blow so devastating to his soul that there were some nights when he genuinely wondered if ending it all wouldn't be the better option.

"I failed her," he murmured softly, sadly. "It should've been me who died. God, how I wish it had been..."

The rest of the country wasn't faring too much better. Supergirl had been a national symbol, and icon of hope. For her to have gone so completely missing was a crushing blow to everyone in America. But even so, the people of the world were strong, and they fought hard to keep their heads up just as their superhero would've wanted them to. Every citizen played their part in staying strong and hopeful, for Supergirl's sake. And even various large-scale agencies and companies invested in the mourning and grieving processes, sometimes offering some of their goods and services for free in the name of the hero who had so freely given her own self to them, time and time again.

Leading the charge was a relatively new company called Universe Food. It was a fast-food chain, but it had since garnered massive respect from the public eye, firstly for being so charitable, secondly for being so supportive in the wake of Supergirl's disappearance, thirdly for being a "human-run enterprise with a strong belief that aliens CAN make great contributions to society" and fourthly for having really great burgers. It would never quite gain the mainstream attention that McDonalds had as a cultural icon, but Universe Food quickly dominated the country and all who ate there was all in agreement that the burgers were sublime. Or, as the cheesy tagline said, they were "OUT OF THIS WORLD!" Never had the planet seen such human-alien cooperation before in light of Supergirl's disappearance. It was the start of a new era, for better and for worse.

In the days to come, Universe Food invited the press to test their launch lineup of food. National City's press was beyond amazed and delighted with the results. One of the city's top food critics ate all the burgers and meat pies and stated in his review, "It's the best burger I've ever eaten, light but filling, sweet and crispy and sour and juicy all at once. Your taste buds will dance and sing as they are treated richly with each and every warm, filling bite!" and he approved greatly of the "special sauce" really used to spice up the burger's flavor. He gave it 4.5 stars out of 5, and for someone like him, that was incredibly generous.

All the other news companies in National City quickly followed suit and, each and every time, every little last reporter and critic fell in love with the mysterious new diner's AMAZING burgers. One writer for CatCo decreed that the burgers were even better than a "Grade A" meal, and that Universe Foods deserved an A++++++++!

And various doctors around the city had to admit that the burgers were surprisingly healthy. Of course, they weren't perfect, but they were noted to increase muscle mass and strength and endurance in any of its eaters, which was quite the impressive claim for any fast food joint to make. The only difference was, Universe Food could actually, legitimately make that claim. Their food really did cause their customers to grow stronger, and many doctors attested to it.

"The meat is delicious! Whatever animal it comes from, it certainly packs a punch! It's flavorful and outrageously healthy for a burger!" one doctor had declared, while devouring a Universe Food meat pie. "Everyone should try it!" he added, though his voice was somewhat muffled by the pie, which he was still devouring hungrily. He was far from the only one who thought this way.

Countless other reviews, from every sort of person and posted on every sort of social platform, all said similar things about the new and mysterious burger joint:

"Universe Food has the best burgers in the world!"

"Favorite snack of all time!"

"So cheap and simple, yet so delicious and wonderful!"

"Best burger meat of all time!"

"Far better than McDonalds or BK!"

"I don't know what their secret recipe is, but it's no secret that Universe Food is the BEST!"

Over the next few months, Universe Food continued to grow in size, power and popularity, gaining notoriety and money faster than any restaurant before it ever had. But even though Universe Food was thriving, that could not totally offset the gloom that came with knowing that the Girl of Steel was still missing.

"I can't believe you got us Universe Food," Alex remarked one night as Winn stopped by with a bagful of burgers and meat pies. She was still grieving terribly over the loss of her little sister, but she was trying to put on a brave face for everyone else.

"What?! It's a new place and it's done so much for Supergirl's memory that I think it's only fair we give it a try," he replied with a sad smile.

"Big Belly Burger was better," James replied, but his voice was hollow, no humor at all in it.

"Just shut up and eat," Winn sighed as he tossed everyone their burger. J'onn, Eliza, Lena and Cat were also in attendance, though none of them were even speaking. As much as some of them hated to admit it, though, the burgers were pretty good.

"It is delicious," Alex admitted as she took another giant bite of her sandwich.

"It really is!" James agreed, sounding genuinely surprised at how much better Universe Food tasted compared to any other fast food joint or burger place he'd ever been to before. One would think that all low-down places like that would taste similar, but no, something about Universe Food was just too darn good to deny!

"Whatever animal it may be from, it's amazing!" Lena murmured as she dug into a meat pie.

"Agreed!" Winn was already on his second burger.

"Rip-off Big Belly Burger," Cat replied, but no one missed how hungrily she was devouring her own.

"Wonder what's in it?" Eliza mused sadly. She still sometimes felt too sick and sad to eat, but for the sake of her remaining daughter, she ate. If only Kara could've been here... She would've loved these burgers! In fact, she probably would've downed a dozen of them and still be hungry for more! A bittersweet tear rolled down Eliza's cheek as she thought about her younger daughter.

It made her feel good, though, to think that this burger joint was doing their best to try and help the country through one of its darkest hours. Perhaps that sounded silly to say out loud, a burger joint offering America hope and comfort, but it was true! The corporation donated a large portion of its profit to various charities across the country, especially charities that were for pro-alien organizations. It made Eliza feel a little bit better to watch a pro-alien company soar through the ranks, and it gave her hope that someday, the world would see peace once again...

"This burger meat is far superior to whatever pink paste is in McDonald's patties!" Cat suddenly decreed, startling Eliza from her sad reveries. Around her and Cat, the others laughed, but they were all in agreement with what she had said. It was the start of a new era for the fast food industry, and as Eliza secretly hoped as well, it would be the start of a new era for human-alien cooperation too. It was the least they deserved after all the tragedy they'd suffered through with the loss of Kara and Supergirl…


	10. Chapter 4: Merry Christmas

Date: Christmas 2022 5pm-7:30pm

There was still no sign of Supergirl or her reporter friend, Kara Danvers. There wasn't even the tiniest of hints to suggest where either of them had been before the time of their disappearance. As such, by the time Christmas rolled around in National City, it was a very cold day indeed. And it was the hardest Christmas Alex had ever been forced to endure. Even though Cat threw a private party in her fancy house just a few miles from the city, the only guests being those who had known Kara well, Alex still found it hard to see a Christmas without her precious baby sister there with her. Without Kara there, was it really a merry Christmas?

"Cheer up, Alex, it's Christmas!" Winn murmured to her as she and Eliza arrived at Cat's house. He, James, Lena, J'onn, Maggie (Alex's new girlfriend) and Lyra (Winn's new girlfriend) were the other attendees.

"I'll try," she muttered, not sounding very excited. She trudged sadly, slowly, into Cat's house. The first thing she was aware of was not the smell of a roast or a ham or even a turkey, but of-

"Burgers?" Alex let out a bark of laughter despite her grief.

"It's a Christmas charity," James explained to her. "Universe Food was doing some sort of Christmas thing where, for every burger bought, they donate some money and a batch of Christmas cookies to various pro-alien charities…" but Alex still couldn't stop a laugh at the humor of seeing a beautiful table covered in gorgeous decor surrounded by all sorts of Christmas treats only for the centerpiece to be a giant silver tray of burgers.

"They have a Christmas line," Cat frowned as Alex continued to snicker at the comical sight of fast food on a silver platter. Then she pointed to the tray of meat pies. Those looked a bit fancier and nicer, and as Alex would soon find out, they really were holiday themed, so to speak. While the burgers were just burger, like always, the meat pies came in more creative flavors, reminiscent of chicken, turkey, ham, roast and all the other things people normally ate on Christmas.

For almost an hour, the small family gathered around Cat's fancy mahogany table to eat, drink and be merry (or at least, as merry as possible). While they dined upon ever meaty delicacy Universe Food had to offer, they traded memories about Kara and tried to bring her good cheer into their hearts again so that this Christmas could still be a merry one after all.

"She was always such a stupid, foolish girl!" Cat shook her head as she ate a Double Meat Burger. "She had so much promise and potential, yet she never seemed to see it herself, always lowering herself to standards she was already so much higher than!"

"I never knew her that well, but I know that Winn was fond of her, and I myself hold her in great esteem. She seemed like a good and kind person," Lyra nodded as she munched absentmindedly on a turkey-flavored meat pie. "And Supergirl was, cliche though it may be to say it, my hero. I held so much respect and admiration for her. She was definitely a great loss for this country…"

"And Supergirl was so much like her cousin," James agreed as he moved onto his third burger. "I know Supergirl hated to be compared to him, but she had all the strength, courage, honor and heart that he did, I am honored to say that I was her friend. And I am just as honored to call Kara a friend as Supergirl."

"Same," a bittersweet smile spread across Winn's face as he played with his meat pie sadly. "Kara never failed to make me laugh. She was just the sweetest girl! And my favorite memory of Supergirl was when she saved me from myself, and from Myriad…" Winn paused as his bittersweet smile became even more bitter at this memory. It was only thanks to her strength that he'd been able to overcome Myriad's brainwashing. It was now his greatest regret that he had failed to save her, even though she had saved him...

"She was like a daughter to me," J'onn said next once Winn finished sharing his memory of Kara. "I was so proud to have known her and it will always be my greatest pride, getting to serve with her," he murmured as he slowly at his meat pie.

"And Kara was my daughter," Eliza agreed as she ate her own burger. "Not by blood, but she was just as much my child as Alex is…" she turned to her surviving daughter with a pained look and Alex began to cry, unable to share her own memory because of the grief it caused her. Maggie held Alex gently, kissing and caressing her before talking about how much Kara had meant to her as well.

"She was so welcoming of me, Kara was," Maggie said. "She was over the moon when she found out Alex and I were dating, and I have never received such a warm reception before in my life! I will never forget that… or her."

"Kara was my best friend," now it was Lena's turn. "I loved her more than anything, more than words can ever say. She trusted and welcomed me when no one else would. Her spirit and her faith are the things I will remember and miss most about her. I was so lucky to have met someone as kind and trusting as she… And Supergirl, herself, has saved me several times as well, thanks to Kara's faith in me, prompting Supergirl to feel the same. I would do anything to bring them back!"

And the group continued to speak on behalf of Kara's memory, continuing to eat their burgers and meat pies throughout the entire conversation.

Lyra chuckled as she sank her teeth into her Double Meat MeatPie. It was warm and fresh and flavorful and delicious. The gravy was like nectar and the meat was nice and chewy and salty and warm. The crust was fresh and crispy, the filling was rich, what more could she have possibly wanted?!

Cat, as she sank her teeth into the first of her Double Meat Burgers, said "Delicious!" Her burger, like Lyra's, was warm and fresh, bursting with goodness. The Sauce was like sweet and the meat was nice and juicy. The salty sweetness was a perfect combination!

Lena slurped up some of the gravy from her meat pie, looking content for the first time in months. The food sat richly in her stomach, warm, and she couldn't stop a smile as she reached for another meat pie.

"I should stop," she told herself, but she didn't. Instead, she indulged, and with Kara's face in her mind, she continued to chow down on the warm, salty, meaty goodness sitting on her plate before her. Kara would've devoured an entire plate in mere seconds, so tonight, in her honor and memory, Lena was going to let loose and do the same and eat as much as she wanted to, no regrets, just indulgence.

Winn, James and Maggie were experimenting with the sauces and gravy, slathering on the meaty goodness and trading flavors. It was enough to even make Alex and Eliza laugh as their friends invented "new" flavors, by mashing everything up together and calling it a meal.

"That's what we call a stir fry," J'onn teased them, but he stole some of the strange mash Winn, James and Maggie had made and seemed quite pleased with the taste. Alex stole a bit of it next, snatching it right out of Maggie's hand playfully.

"Hmmm," she murmured as she licked her fingers clean. "Not entirely terrible!" and for the first time in a long time, the guests of the table began to laugh. It was still freezing cold outside, but the temperature inside was starting to warm up once again. Maybe it really could be a Merry Christmas after all…


	11. Chapter 5: Contributions to Society

Date: Christmas 2022 8pm-11pm

But while the rest of the world grieved, two men were more than happy with how things were going. These were the men behind the curtain.

"How are productions looking, Lenny?" Lex asked over a prison phone call.

"Excellent, sir!" Lenny replied. "Your cloning machine is working like a charm! I don't think supplies are going to go down any time soon, unless we get exposed of course..."

"Excellent," Lex replied, then a sickening smile spread across his face, which he buried in his sleeve so that none of the watching guards could see.

"Let me hear it, will you?" he asked.

"Sir?" Lenny faltered.

"I want to _hear _how production is going," Lex replied.

"But sir, I don't think that's such a good idea," Lenny frowned a little. He knew that Lex was probably surrounded by at least 15 guards right then.

"Do it anyway!" Lex replied, a dangerous edge creeping into his voice.

"Yes sir!" immediately, Lenny's thoughts of defiance were wiped clean out of his mind. He had been standing outside when talking to Lex but, at Lex's behest, he entered back into the factory.

All at once, Lex was met with a heavenly symphony to rival even the likes of Beethoven and Mozart. He could hear whirring, grinding machines. Metal on metal. The hiss and growl of fire and heat. He could hear an oven creaking open and shut constantly. He could hear the sound of flesh being cut and burned into raw meat. He could hear sizzling as the meat was cooked and turned into consumable food. He could hear clattering, clanking, whirring and churring. He could hear roaring and moaning.

But his favorite sound of all was of the raw and desperate screams and sobs that raised even over the machinery and heat. Thousands of high-pitched screams of pain and pleas for mercy permeated the air and every single voice sounded exactly the same. Every single voice sounded exactly like hers, like Kara Danver's.

Coming out of a small black box on one side of the factory was an endless stream of Kara clones, all naked and afraid, panicked as their first sight of this earth was nothing but death, despair, pain and mutilation. They were quickly held in place by claw arms as they were moved onto a conveyor belt made to burn them alive in the flames of an oven or chop them up into pieces or string them up by their ankles before shoving the charred and chopped up remains into packages sent to be shipped out across the world under the label of Universe Food. The screaming and crying were so loud, but Lex reveled in it. He liked hearing the Kara clones squeal and cry out and weep. He liked their panic.

"Ahhhh!" Lex sighed in pleasure as Lenny continued to hold the phone to the chaos. He could hear the Kara clones begging for help or mercy, begging for the pain to stop. He could hear them screaming and wailing in panic and confusion. They didn't understand what was going on. But how could they? They were only, at most, 10 minutes old. And that was about how long any of them ever lasted before the beautiful machinery in Lex's horrible scheme cut their lives and bodies short. Even after the phone had been yanked away from his ear, Lex continued to revel in the sound of his enemy's dying gasps and wails. In an endless round, Kara would die over and over again for all eternity, her body being used as literal meat to strengthen and power humanity.

"Who said that aliens couldn't make a contribution to society?" Lex asked himself with a small, satisfied smile as he opened up his own Universe Food burger. Ahhh! Made freshly from the best kind of meat: Kara Meat. It was his third burger of the day! Then once he finished his little meal, he curled up into his tiny bed. It was cold, especially since it was the middle of winter, but the triumph of having finally vanquished a super made Lex feel warm, and the burger sat richly in his stomach as he fell asleep, dreaming of all the profit his new company would continue to turn for years and years to come. It was the start of a new era for sure!

And Lex fell asleep with a smile on his face, happy not just with his triumph over Supergirl, but with his sick, sadistic little inside joke. Universe Food's front of being a "human-run enterprise with a strong belief that aliens CAN make great contributions to society" seemed like a sweet thing to say, but he knew the truth. Lex knew better. And he was the only one in the entire universe who did. He was the only one who truly understood what "contributions to society" really meant in this case, and that fact filled his blackened heart with a sadistic glee even colder than the snow and ice outside his prison cell.


	12. Chapter 6: All You Can Eat

Date: March 2023 10am-7:30pm (1st Anniversary of Universe Foods / 1st Anniversary of Supergirl Disappearing and Supergirl Reporter Kara Danvers Disappearing)

It had been a year since Supergirl went missing and still not a trace of her could be found anywhere, whether on Earth or in space. To help cope, all of her grieving friends had watched videos of her nonstop, still searching desperately for her and turning to every pro-alien organization they could find for help. Given its social status as one of Supergirl's most supportive businesses, Universe Food was on the list of pro-alien organizations.

"Never thought I'd live to see the day a _burger joint_ was considered a pro-alien organization by the _government_!" J'onn mused as he skimmed through his list of organizations only to see Universe Food on it.

"Well, you can't deny that they've been wildly helpful this past year," James looked over J'onn's shoulder at the list.

"Yeah, now it sounds like they're trying to hold an eating competition in honor of their first birthday," Winn noted with a grin as he skimmed an article about it online. J'onn turned to him with a warning look.

"Oh, no, we are absolutely not-"

ooo

"I can't believe I'm doing this…" J'onn, along with countless other people of National City, stood at the city's heart where a long table literally overflowing with burgers awaited. It was the Universe Food All-You-Can-Eat Anniversary competition where people were entering in as pairs to see who could eat the most the fastest, a cash prize awarded to the winning duo. There rules were as follows:

Rule 1: Every couple must eat all their food. If one gives up, they both lose.

Rule 2: No Using Alien Powers such Superspeed.

Rule 3: Whoever eats more in 20 minutes wins.

The food listing was as follows: 14 Double Meat Burgers, 10 Double Meat Meat Pies, 6 Original Meat Pies, and 10 Original Burgers. This was for the first round. The second round took it further, consisting of 6 Double Meat Burgers, 24 Double Meat Meat Pies, 12 Original Meat Pies, and 20 Original Burgers. Then the third and final round went all-out, consisting of 30 Double Meat Burgers, 20 Double Meat Meat Pies, 24 Original Meat Pies, and 30 Original Burgers.

Alex and Maggie were the first to lose, one human-alien pair lost second, an alien-alien pair lost third, Winn and Lyra lost fourth, and several other contestants (human and alien alike) ended up losing as well. The winners consisted of Lena Luthor and her L-Corp assistant, Jess. Somehow, against all odds and expectations, Lena somehow managed to eat the most, even though she had been the most reluctant to enter this trivial little game (behind J'onn). The reward was actually pretty nice, $1000, but as one who already owned a multi-billion dollar company, Lena was quick to give all the money away, giving some of her portion to Jess before donating all the rest.

"God, I'm not going to be able to eat for weeks!" Lena moaned as she rubbed a very full stomach. Jess would've laughed, had she not been equally stuffed. In front of them, the crowd laughed and clapped, both awed and humored that their local Luthor was the one to win the competition. Lena shrugged goodnaturedly at them all, feeling just a bit better knowing that she'd won some of the crowd's respect and admiration that day, even if it did come out of something as silly as an all-you-can-eat competition.

So that was how Universe Food celebrated its first birthday, trying to overshadow the grief that came with realizing that Supergirl had, by this point, been missing upwards of one year with still no sign or trace to be found anywhere…


	13. Chapter 7: In the Days to Come

Date: March 2024-February 28 2027 (2st-5st Anniversary of Universe Foods / 2st-5st Anniversary of Supergirl Disappearing and Supergirl Reporter Kara Danvers Disappearing)

In the days to come, there was still no progress made in the hunt for Supergirl. Despite the lack of results, however, the people of National City were slowly starting to heal, coming to accept the fact that their mighty Girl of Steel was well and truly gone. It was hard for them to swallow and even harder for them to get over, but they were all making progress on the path to healing. Alex and Maggie had since traveled to Greece on a one-month holiday, James Olsen and Lucy Lane wound up getting back together during the search for Supergirl and Winn and Lyra were reaching their second anniversary as a couple.

But as well as everyone was coming along, evil was still very much awake and alive. Maybe nothing drastic had happened, but Lex and Lenny were far from inactive. Instead, their glorious machine continued to churn out burgers faster than any human could ever hope to consume. Lex even became bold enough to send an anonymous shipment of his food to Cadmus, addressed directly to "Mother". When she received the package only to find it filled to the brim with assorted meat products, she thought for certain that Lex had gone crazy. The only other item that came in the package was a note that read: "Trust me, and enjoy the fruit (meat) of your son's labor".

It was a very suspicious thing to say, so Lillian was quick to feed some of the burger meat to some of her least favorite Cadmus members, but when nothing bad happened to them, she dared to taste some of the food herself. She was surprised at how delicious it was! She still had no clue what on Earth had prompted her son to randomly send her a package of burger meat, but she figured that he had his reasons and ways and that, one day, it would all become clear to her. Until then, however, she would continue to accept his gifts. She would be cruel to turn them down, and they really weren't half bad!

So on Lillian's orders, Universe Food became the official Cadmus menu. The others were certain that if her son hadn't gone bonkers, she had, but as strange as this command was, none of them were stupid enough to dare defy Lillian Luthor. Instead, if any of them found her command about them eating burger meat to be strange, they had the good sense to keep such sentiment to themselves. Instead, they only obediently ate their burgers, putting just as much blind faith in her as she was in her beloved little boy. She was certain that Lex had something in mind, she just didn't know what it was… Yet…

In the days to come, Universe Food continued a steady expansion, quickly rising to the top of every chart in the country.

"If there's one thing humans did right, it was inventing the burger!" one Almeracian said as he and some of his buddies grabbed a few burgers for lunch.

"Definitely worth the trip!" a nearby Infernian agreed, having already been on a spaceship headed past Earth when she decided to take a pit stop on the blue planet just to see what it was like. It wasn't the best place in the universe, but it wasn't bad either. And the food, at least, was pretty good.

"Wonder if it'll ever expand into outer space?" a Maaldorian mused, chowing down on his fifth meat pie. The others laughed in amusement, but they couldn't help but wonder… They certainly wouldn't mind it if Universe Food lived up to its name and expanded… But only time would tell if such a dream became reality.

"Until then, though?" the Valerian gave a giant grin as he bit into his next burger. Mmmm! It was so warm and juicy and all the toppings were fresh and flavorful. One of his buddies was busily dousing his meal into every sauce that that particular location possessed. Soon, his burger was like a rainbow of colors, every flavor from salty to sweet to sour dancing on his taste buds as he, quite messily, ate his meal. The others at the table pretended to be repulsed by his table manners (or lack thereof) but they were just as lost in the deliciousness of their food as everyone else in the restaurant was.

"Mmmm, nice and chewy!" the Infernian remarked happily. "It's not too burnt and crispy. I can actually taste what I'm eating!" she added with a laugh. The food she'd been eating while stuck on her space trip had been less than stellar, so this burger was like paradise to her. It was nice and filling, rich and tender. It beat the ziploc stuff her crew had packed by a longshot! What wasn't to like!?

"I'll make a note to tell all my friends back home!" the Maaldorian nodded as he downed yet another meat pie. The gravy was so flavorful and meaty, and the crust was nice and crunchy, yet it still managed to be melt-in-your mouth. That is to say, it was crunchy, without sacrificing flavor. And it complimented all the filling of the pie marvelously! So much meaty tenderness was packed into every bite that he was already busily getting out his communication device to tell his family back on his home planet that if they ever chose to visit, he was going to take them out to a Universe Food location the second they touched down. Earth had a good many marvels for alien life to explore, but as far as this Maaldorian was concerned, its greatest achievement was its burgers and meat pies, especially the ones made by Universe Food! And many other people, human and alien alike, were in agreement.

In the days to come, Lex finally made another communication with the outside world. This one was directed at his mother.

"I'm sure you are very anxious to know why I sent you all that burger meat," he began, voice low and sultry. "Well, I think you have been patient enough, so allow me to direct you to Cadmus' dissection lab…" while Lex gave instructions over the phone, Lillian was curious enough to follow them all to the letter, taking one of her Universe Food burgers into the lab with her before scanning it.

"Oh my god!" she breathed when the tests were finished.

"Marvelous, isn't it, mother?" Lex sounded smug as he listened to her gasp once she was done testing, studying and dissecting the little patty. "Alien-meat burgers! And you can even absorb some of the host alien's powers if you eat enough of them!" he added, a boyish excitement creeping into his voice as he said this. Lillian was beyond impressed and pleased with her son's cunning work.

From that day forward, Lex rejoined Cadmus. Although he was still behind bars and, thusly, unable to physically be present within the anti-alien agency's ranks, he and Lenny continued to work behind the scenes as well, recruiting Lillian into the evil scheme too. The rest of Cadmus still remained ignorant to the truth behind what they were eating all the time, but Lillian knew the secret, and she was beyond delighted and amazed. Harnessing aliens for their powers to benefit mankind?! It was brilliant! Pure genius! Just like her son! And she was beyond thrilled and proud to help him out with his evil endeavors.

It was a very strange way for mother and son to bond, but neither of them cared about that, far too satisfied with life right now to care. As far as Lex was concerned, he had gained another ally and asset in his mother. He had not gained a friend or confidante, but another beautiful cog in his nightmarish machinery. And with this newest cog, the machine would turn even faster and harder than ever before. They were entering a new era in the food industry, and they had just taken it all a step further thanks to the newfound alliance between Lex and Lillian.


	14. Chapter 8: Abduction

Date: March 2 2027

Draaga was heading home when he witnessed the abduction of three of his alien friends. They were taken by several shady and masked figures. He didn't know it, but they were members of Cadmus. Draaga was quick to try and come to their aid, running over to help, but that was when another shady figure lunged out of the darkness at him and was quick to strike him over the head as hard as possible. He was knocked out immediately and while he collapsed onto the street, even more shady figures arrived…

Hours later, Draaga and the other three aliens woke up in glass chambers. They were all stripped bare. When they woke up, they woke up violently, panicking immediately and thrashing around in desperation. They tried to scream out to one another but the glass was so thick that they couldn't communicate. They all continued to try and break the glass, kicking and clawing and punching at it, but it still did nothing. They couldn't even scratch the glass. Instead, as their eyes flashed with panic and outrage and confusion, nothing else changed.

After a time, then, Lenny Thorul arrived. He, with a sick and sadistic smile, explained what was about to befall them, and it was not a pretty rundown, not at all. While they continued to tremble in their containment chambers, he paced back and forth in front of them, gloating over his triumph. He explained to them that they were all about to supply the meat for four new burgers that Universe Food was hoping to put out soon.

It was then that the doomed quartet realized where they were. It was in an old and empty warehouse, which used to also be a slaughterhouse. It had been remade into something halfway between a new slaughterhouse and a science lab.

"For cloning," Lenny explained gleefully as he jerked a thumb over to the sciency part of the giant warehouse. Several large boxes, machines, waited there. The cloning machines. To keep the supply of meat running even after the original alien was finally all used up… And a conveyor belt ran out of the cloning machine, leading to the slaughterhouse portion of the building…

One of the glass containers began to move forward towards and through the cloning machine. Once there, metal arms were quick to shoot out and grab hold of the alien inside. She began to panic, screaming and crying as she thrashed uselessly against the chains that held her in place. She was forced through the cloning machine and once it had her DNA, it went to work. Meanwhile, she was continually pushed along to her final destination. She reached the whirring, screaming machinery, scarlet-stained blades spinning like mad. The others looked away, but all too soon, they had joined her, leaving behind an endless trail of clones to follow in their footsteps, one right after another, into the cruel jaws of death.

ooo

"Well, that's the best news I've heard all day," Winn smiled dryly as he set his newspaper down.

"What?" James asked, looking over his shoulder, curious to see what had caught Winn's eyes.

"Universe Food is making new burgers for its fifth anniversary," Winn replied, tossing James the paper.

"Hmmm," James skimmed the names of the burgers. "Kind of cliché, don't you think?" he asked. Winn pretended to get offended.

"How dare you insult my favorite burger joint?!" he cried, putting a hand over his heart.

"I thought Big Belly-" James began playfully.

"Has been owned by UF for about three and a half years now, so it counts," Winn finished. James only laughed in response. Back in Universe Food's earlier days, when it was still a rival of Big Belly, there had been many heated discussions between Winn and anyone who would listen about which was better. Now that the two had become one, though, the need for arguments was over. James still liked to tease the poor technician about it though. As far as he was concerned, though Big Belly was owned by Universe Food, they were still different chains. Call it old habit or brand loyalty, James still liked to joke with Winn as if they were still separate.

"Did you want to go out for a burger later tonight?" James asked after a moment.

"Do you have to ask?" Winn smiled back and James raised a hand for a high-five.

"You're gonna have to nix that burger plan," Alex suddenly walked through the door, expression cold.

"What's wrong?" James' face instantly changed into a look of concern.

"Four more aliens have just gone missing," Alex replied darkly, then she quickly led the two back in the direction she had come from, to one of the larger rooms in the DEO. There, upon the monitor, were four faces.

"Two Almeracians, a Maaldorian and Draaga" Winn read off with a pained expression.

"Yep," Alex looked disgusted, eyes burning with a quiet but hateful rage. James and Winn both looked at her sympathetically. They knew that she was still bitterly mourning the loss of her younger sister, Kara Danvers. Even though it had been five whole years since the young Kryptonian went missing, Alex was still holding out the hope that Kara was still alive. She just needed to be found. And now, they had four aliens more to keep an eye out for as well.


	15. Chapter 9: Elseworlds

Date: March 17 2027

Universe Food catches the public's eyes, ears, hearts... and stomachs for Humans and Aliens Races alike.  
Universe Food acquires Big Belly Burger and becomes an international chain.  
Universe Food hits hundreds of billion sales! (Within First 2 Years)  
Universe Food becomes an Intergalactic FastFood Chain.  
Universe Food hits hundred of trillion sales! (During before our 5th Anniversary)  
Universe Food opens new locations on various local planets.  
Universe Food opens its 750,000th location on Earth 38!

Universe Food turns five years old!

Universe Food has four new types of burger: Fire Burger, the US BBQ Teen Burger, the Double Meat, and the Bacon Bomber.

Universe Food Review: God, that's good!

Lex skimmed through old headlines about Universe Food, having secretly kept every single clip and article that he could. He smiled in satisfaction at them all, a very clear pattern of growth rising up between each headline throughout the last five years. It did his heart well to know how swiftly and smoothly Universe Food was rising. He liked to look back on the early headlines when it was still only a local joint, now it was stretching into the vast reaches of space and earning trillions and trillions in profit!

As soon as he could, Lex made a personal visit to his slaughterhouse, wishing to see how everything was going personally. It wasn't too hard to bribe the guard into letting him go for a day.

"How much trouble do you think I will be able to cause in less than 24 hours?" he had asked before filtering a couple million from his pocket to the guard's.

"Not much," the guard replied, willingly turning a blind eye on the Luthor as he left his cell. It didn't take him long to reach his slaughterhouse after that.

"How are we doing in here, Lenny?" Lex shouted over the screaming of the machinery and the aliens in the background.

"We're doing wonderfully, sir!" Lenny shouted back before gesturing for himself and Lex to step into his private office. It was a small room he'd built off the side of the factory and it was completely soundproof. That way, he and Lex could speak to one another without losing their hearing or their voices. Wonderful as it was to watch the aliens squirm and scream like slaughterhouse pigs all the way to their untimely, graphic, agonizing demise, it was very hard to carry out a conversation in such an environment.

"As I'm sure you already know," Lenny began excitedly. "We've opened far more restaurants than other big companies like McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, and Subway combined and we've got a giant group of hungry customers flocking in from all over the galaxy. Every alien race imaginable wants our burgers!"

"Good, good," Lex allowed his eyes to drift shut slowly in pleasure. It made his wicked heart twist with pleasure to think how rich and famous he was becoming off of the suffering of his enemies. His one regret was that he was unable to reveal himself as the genius mastermind behind the whole plan. Since he was still serving 30-some life sentences, however, he'd been forced to allow Lenny to be the face of the company.

"How are plans for further expansion going?" Lex asked a few moments later, opening his eyes again.

"Further expansion?" Lenny echoed. "But, sir, we've already dominated the galaxy!"

"I don't just want this universe, Universe 38, Lenny," Lex replied, frowning. "I want all of them."

"All of them, sir?" sensing that Lex was about to snap, Lenny made himself as small as possible.

"Yes, Lenny, all of them," Lex bit out every word. "I want every single universe to know my name! I want to reach parallel universes and crossover worlds. I want every single alien in any known universe to bow down before me! Got it?!" he growled, and Lenny nodded at once, shaking.

"Good," Lex backed down a little, then he looked past Lenny out the window of the office and back towards the heart of the factory.

For a moment, there was only silence as Lex peered out the window, watching limbs being violently ripped off of still-living aliens before everything was tossed into a giant oven. He watched as struggling, squirming bodies cried out in misery and agony. He watched them try to escape, thrashing and attacking their chains. It wouldn't work, though. Lex had been doing this for five years. He had it down to a science now. He only gave one soft laugh of amusement as he watched one of the many Supergirl clones being held immobile by several giant metal arms hanging from the ceiling. While she screamed her lungs out, the claws placed her on a conveyor belt and held her down as the belt moved slowly forward, pushing her closer and closer to the incinerator. She was finally fully inside the machine and the metal doors clanked shut as she and thousands of other clones were slowly cooked alive, flesh burning and bubbling off to reveal the warm meat beneath.

But Supergirl wasn't the only one being cloned over and over again. The four new missing aliens, along with a vast host of other species and breeds, were being cloned as well. The entire left half of the warehouse, which was now far larger thanks to all the expansions done, was nothing but cloning machines. After a few seconds, another fully-formed clone would pop out, and then the giant metal arms would grab hold of them and place them on the conveyor belt where they would walk the same path their billions and billions of predecessors had. To the far right of the slaughterhouse was a giant packaging station where all the fresh cuts of meats were quickly stored and sent out, to be shipped all over the world and the universe. It was a very swift, efficient process that picked up quite the pretty penny.

But once Lex grew tired of watching his beautiful creation, he turned back to Lenny.

"I will be back in one month," he said. "When I return, I should have a way for you to reach these Elseworlds, and I expect you to utilize my technology in full. Do you understand?" he asked, and Lenny had the good sense to nod rapidly.

Just as promised, one month later, Lex returned to Lenny with plans and tech to help him reach all of these parallel universes and alternate dimensions. Lenny was quick to pitch the idea to the rest of the company, expressing his desire to expand their chain into the Elseworlds as well as their own. After he introduced his company to all of the other known Earths across all the other known universes, it didn't take long for the Universe Food joints to become just as popular in the Elseworlds as it was in Universe 38, where it all started.

Soon, there was a Universe Food on nearly every block in National City, Metropolis, Gotham, and every other major city in the USA and there were now officially hundreds spanning all of their counterparts. Earth 1 quickly became a breeding ground for the chain and acclaimed superheroes like the Flash and Green Arrow could easily be caught devouring the meat pies of the famous industry, all of the rest of their team eating right along with them.

"The Anniversary Burger is easily my favorite," Barry grinned as he ate his fifth in a row. Cisco and Caitlin were also on their fifth burgers and no one was showing any signs of slowing down. Iris was so busy chowing down on a meat pie that she didn't even respond verbally, choosing instead to just keep on eating.

"It's got nothing on the Fire Burger!" Oliver replied, and for good measure, he doused his in hot sauce, earning horrified looks from everyone else, especially Felicity. But Sara actually dared to copy Oliver and douse hot sauce on her own spicy burger. It burned her tongue like nothing else, but it tasted so good!

But even though the two could not agree upon which burger was better, they and all their friends only had one thing to say: "God, that's good!"

Back in Gotham, Batman had taken quite a liking to the US BBQ Burger, a fact that Alfred and Robin liked to tease him on.

"I never pegged you for a fast-food person, Master Wayne," Alfred noted as Batman finished his fourth burger.

"Yeah, if you aren't careful, you won't even fit into the Bat Cave anymore!" Robin agreed cheekily. Although Batman was nowhere near fat, he had gained a few pounds from all the Universe Food menu items.

"If you aren't careful, nor will you," Batman replied with a growl and his Robin had the good grace to look a bit embarrassed. Batman continued to indulge himself, secretly trying to reason that as much as he was eating, at least it wasn't as much as Batwoman, who was far more into Universe Food than just about anyone else in Gotham City. And all across the rest of the known universe(s), other aliens were buying up the burgers as fast as possible.

"That's more like it!" Lex muttered when Lenny gave him the news.

"We're well on our way to becoming the first Quadrillionaire in the universe!" he cried enthusiastically.

"I don't care about the money," Lex replied with a scoff. He had been born from money and had spent his whole life reveling in it. A billion dollars was nothing to him now. Especially not while he was in prison for life without parole or bail. Sure, the cash was nice, and it did keep everything in fine working order, but this stopped being about business about four years ago.

After he dared to acquire Big Belly and spread his influence to the stars, it became about pleasure and pride. He didn't care if his company started giving out burgers and meat pies for free! What mattered to him now was seeing his legacy fill the heavens and stretch across the cosmos. And what he enjoyed most of all was reveling in the knowledge that, every few seconds or so, another one of his enemies was burned or crushed to death. He had the infinite pleasure of knowing that he got to kill Supergirl over and over and over again, and nothing made him feel more alive!

But while Lex sat alone in his cell, laughing manically to himself, and while Lenny continued to run the machinery of the slaughterhouse, everyone else across all the known universes continued to eat. And eat. And eat. And eat. And eat. And say, "God, that's good!" all the while


	16. Chapter 10: Marriages, Mourning and Meat

Date: May 25 2027

If there was any sort of good news to be had during these dark times, there finally came a time when Winn and Lyra got married. They chose to get married in Shanghai and, as a joke, all of the food at the wedding included Universe Food menu items.

"How romantic," Alex gave the newlyweds a dry smile as they united under the altar. Lena, who was sitting beside her, said nothing, but the bitter smile on her own face spoke volumes. It was clear that, aside from Alex and Eliza, she was taking Kara's disappearance the hardest. She still had yet to realize that Kara and Supergirl were one in the same, but even though she was unaware about that truth, it was still clear that she missed the younger Danvers terribly. At least Alex had Maggie and James had Lucy and Superman had Lois Lane. Who did Lena have now that Kara was gone? So the wedding felt especially bittersweet to her.

By now, however, she had managed to regain some of her own composure such that L-Corp was no longer on the brink of bankruptcy due to Lena's fervor. In the early days of the hunt for Kara and Supergirl, Lena had nearly spent all of L-Corps time and resources in a vain attempt to find the missing duo. Now, though, some of the shock and initial grief had finally faded and Lena was able to get her mind back into a better place. L-Corp was running smoothly again.  
What's more, Lena had also entered a partnership with Universe Food, both of them sending each other money and resources whenever the other needed it, At the moment, it was thanks to Lena that everyone in the wedding reception had nearly 100 different burgers and meat pies to feast on. She'd been the one to place the order and she'd received a nice discount on the meal.

Lena did find it funny, she never thought that there would ever be a day in which her company partnered up with a burger joint, of all things, but sometimes the best of friendships came from the most unlikely of places. This was one of those times, and the mysterious CEO of Universe Food had been all too eager to partner up with the younger sister of the infamous Lex Luthor. She would never understand what truly drove "Mr. Thorul" to be so adamant about a partnership with L-Corp, but seeing all the good that he was doing (for humans and aliens alike) she'd finally agreed, and it seemed that their partnership had been a good decision on her part, strange as that sounded.

"As long as we keep getting discounts on Double Meat Burgers and Bacon Bombers, I say that L-Corp should stay in!" Winn joked as he and his new bride dined on a few of the burgers before moving onto their gorgeous wedding cake. It was just as delicious as it was beautiful and the only thing prettier was the happy couple of newlyweds. For once, there was finally something worth smiling about. It was a day of marriage, mourning and meat pies and, for the first time in a long time, the Superfriends felt uplifted.


	17. Chapter 11: Getting A Clue

Date: February 28 2028

About a year after Draaga and friends disappeared, Alex finally thought she had found a connection between their disappearance and the disappearance of Kara five years prior to that. Even though the gap between the two incidences was five years, Alex was certain of her theory, and it became a hope of hers that if they could perhaps find even just one of the missing aliens, the others would follow soon after.

"I know it sounds crazy," she admitted to her friends as they all sat around her apartment, listening to her talk while casually munching on more Universe Food menu items. "But I've noticed that in both cases of the disappearances, they happened late at night under similar circumstances: swift and sudden ambushes by figures in black suits. They aren't quite Cadmus uniforms, so perhaps it's another organization, but I've finally been able to crack the shoddy recording we got from the gas station where Kara's phone was found and that's what the footage dictated: a group of people powerful enough to subdue even a Kryptonian with Kara Zor El on floor."

"They must have Kryptonite, then!" Lena muttered, setting down her burger as her eyes narrowed in focus. "Lex must be behind it, because as far as I know, he's the only one with any access to Kryptonite! And besides, if you think about it, why would Kara have been at that lonely old gas station at all? There's a fair chance that her kidnapping may have occurred somewhere else with the footage of her at the gas station being entirely fabricated. That's a very Lex-ish thing to do…"  
And as Lena said this, all eyes were opened a little bit wider. What if Kara's true kidnapping had occurred somewhere else entirely with the gas station only being a ruse? What if Kara's true kidnapping had been staged by Lex Luthor himself? It was certainly something he would do.

"But now that leaves the question of how we're supposed to prove this," J'onn reminded everyone solemnly. "Regardless of Lex's guilt in this matter, we need a way to incriminate him. We need definitive proof, or else the rest of the world will brush it off as us being paranoid. Lex is locked up on Stryker Island, after all."

"Well, maybe I can go try to talk to Lex while everyone else here stays behind and does another sweep of our victims and their final nights before their disappearances," Lena continued to plan thoughtfully, burger still untouched as something new came along to distract. Alex was quick to catch onto what Lena was saying.  
"Maybe we should try to speak with the family and friends of the missing aliens again to see if anything in family history would point to why they, in specific, were kidnapped," she said slowly, bouncing off of the younger Luthor's ideas. "If nothing comes from that, we'll at least be able to get a better look into our victims' histories and figure out how they might've been spotted, if we do assume that the kidnappings were done through random choice. With any luck, we'll find clues to see where the connection point is, because there HAS to be one somewhere, even if we don't yet know where or what it might be… Then we can start researching the culprits," Alex nodded as she spoke, giving a determined look to everyone else in attendance.

"There's a problem with that, though," J'onn interrupted, "We would need to look to space and Earth both in order to get a full picture of our missing people and we have neither the time nor the resources to do so. With Supergirl gone, we've all needed to work extra hard to keep this city safe and I don't know how many people we can spare to go to space right now. And even if we did have unlimited time and money, who's to say that whoever is doing the kidnapping won't catch onto us and try to hunt us down as well?"

"I can handle that," Cat finally added her own two cents into the conversation. She had been quietly eating a meat pie, but now that the conversation was finally starting to steer into waters that she knew she could tread, she was quick to voice her own plans and opinions.

"As the CEO of a large reporting company, I can easily get word out across this planet and maybe I can even use my connections to Universe Food to reach into the heavens as well," she suggested. "I can send an ad out in the paper to draw in the family of the missing aliens, It wouldn't be too hard for someone like myself to get the publication spread across the country, As for outer space, while that would be tougher, I think it is doable. And I have never been one to back down from a challenge," she added fiercely, She was just as invested in saving Kara as the others were.

"And if Cat can't handle outer space, I can help with that," Lena agreed, referring to her own close ties with the food company. Although L-Corp was no media empire, it was no stranger to media either, and Lena was sure that she had enough resources to help Cat reach the stars, if that help was required. The two CEOs exchanged guarded but respectful smiles as they shook on it.

"Good!" Alex sounded relieved. Her own burger remained untouched, first due to nerves and then due to excitement. "Then once we're able to get in touch with the families and conduct interviews, maybe we can find out what happened, That's when we come in," she gestured to herself, James, Winn, J'onn and Maggie.

"Well, if we know where the kidnapping took place, I can get on that right now," Maggie offered, Even though her jurisdiction only fell within National City's borders, she still knew how to run an investigation. Besides, as an unofficial member of the DEO, she knew that she could easily obtain a fake license that would give her power anywhere she went.

"I can do the same, I can assist Ms. Sawyer in an early investigation on the crime scenes," J'onn agreed. "Then when it is time, I can head to the stars to look for our backstories and maybe for some more info on the group responsible for these heinous acts."

"Excellent!" Alex repeated, looking hopeful for the first time in years, "Then it looks like it's settled!" she and James and Winn were going to stay back in National City and continue to look for Kara while Cat, Lena, J'onn and Maggie would look for the other missing aliens, both across the globe and across the stars.  
"I think we're finally getting somewhere!" she said next with a genuine smile, and the other people in attendance smiled back, playfully raising up their Universe Food burgers in a toast, They would find their missing friends, they were certain of it! But burgers first.

"Yes, burgers always first!" Alex joked with a bittersweet smile, quoting Kara as she finally bit into her food. Then the room fell silent as everyone continued to dine on Double Meat Burgers and Bacon Bombers, hearts finally as satisfied as their stomachs.


	18. Chapter 12: Scouting Out the Enemy

Date: US Thanksgiving 2023

When Thanksgiving 2023 rolled around, Universe Food invited the Superfriends to a new hotel they were opening. It was all the way over in Tokyo, but Universe Food was paying for the travel expenses.

"Should we go?" Alex asked, sounding like she would've preferred to stay behind and continue to look for the missing aliens, and it was Lena who answered.

"You remember I'm in very close partnership with Universe Food, it would be rude of any of us to deny their request," she said as she studied the invitation. She understood Alex's reluctance, but she was firm in her decision. Lena wanted to continue her positive relationship with the powerful fast food chain and that wouldn't happen if any one of the invited guests decided to get cold feet now. Alex and the others began to see Lena's point and, at last, the large group of friends found themselves headed over to Japan.

"Wow!" even though Alex had been the most reluctant, what she saw took her breath away. It was even grander than the greatest five-star hotel on Earth. It was 100 stories tall with 50 rooms per floor and the ground floor had some of the largest and fanciest dining areas anyone had ever seen. As one might've expected, though, the only meal options came off the Universe Food menu.

"Wait a second! Look!" J'onn was the first one to point it out. Some of the patrons were anti-alien people. None of them were with Cadmus, but J'onn already recognized them, both from past encounters and because they were on a master list of names he kept at the DEO.

"Why would they be eating here?" Lena narrowed her eyes. "Universe Food is very open about its pro-alien politics. Why would anti-alien groups be staying HERE?" Alex, James, Winn, Eliza, Cat, Maggie and all the rest of the Superfriends were quick to grow suspicious and they tried to make their stay at this fancy new hotel as short as possible. It was a grand and luxurious place, but neither J'onn nor Lena felt safe around the anti-alien crew. None of them did, but J'onn and Lena were the most overtly on edge. All of them were quick to leave once the grand opening was over, having spent the rest of their time subtly scouting out the enemy and trying to understand why there were so many anti-alien faces at a pro-alien hotel such as this…

But while the Superfriends were swift to go back home, one patron was more than pleased with how everything was running. Lex Luthor. He was unable to be at the hotel in person, but he had watched the Superfriends visit through some of the secret cameras Lenny set up for him.

"Good," he growled as he watched them depart. None of them suspected. Perhaps they were wary now, but he had heard Lena herself verbally and personally confirm that she and the others were still close friends with Universe Food. And not only that, but he had been able to see them all up close and personal in order to better study them. That had been the entire reason Lex created this hotel at all: to spy on the Superfriends. Lex created the hotel for the sole purpose of scouting out the enemy, luring them in just to see them up close.

And he'd chosen Japan just because it was so far away that no one would ever suspect it as belonging to him. It was all a very elaborate setup, but for the man who had everything (monetarily speaking) it was easy to accomplish. He'd also sent in some Cadmus agents just to see if the Superfriends would recognize them. Of course, he'd put them in different uniforms, but it seemed as if at least a few of the Superfriends were still able to recognize their enemies. That told Lex a lot about how informed the Superfriends were, but as aware as they were, he could rest assured and revel in the knowledge that they still had yet to know the dark secret behind Universe Food… That was the greatest triumph of all in Lex's opinion! Besides, it really was nice to have such a large and fancy hotel now at his command. It had been a very fruitful day in Lex's mind.

But once that meetup was over, Lex allowed Lenny to end the live feed while he returned to the prison's cafeteria where all of his fellow inmates were chowing down on burger after burger after burger, all from Universe Food of course! Just like he had promised, Lex had managed to create a system where, at least once a week, the local Universe Food would send a few hundred burgers over to Stryker Island for the prisoners. Nothing filled the evil Luthor with more sadistic pleasure than watching his fellow degenerates feasting upon the flesh of their enemies. Lex himself sat at the head of the room like a king, feasting amongst his subjects, all of them hungrily devouring their enemies and crushing them between their teeth, literally.

As Lex ate, he heard the others talk amongst themselves about how tasty the burgers were. It evoked a sick and twisted laugh from the deranged Luthor and he was all too happy to bite into his own sandwich, smiling as the flavors ran warmly down his throat. Victory had never tasted so sweet!


	19. Chapter 13: A Christmas Competition

Date: Christmas 2025

When Christmastime rolled around again, Universe Food started up another eating competition. This time, though, it wasn't isolated to just one Earth, and this time, it was a bit more exclusive than before. After managing to reach out into other worlds, through the help of L-Corp technology, as Universe Food so claimed, the fast food chain was quick to propose a competition between superheroes and metahumans across all Earths. It was going to be a Christmas competition as well, the funding from the event going to various charities across all of the Earths. The goal was simple: eat the most amount of food in the timespace given. What was going to make it interesting and fun, however, was the fact that everyone was allowed to use whatever power they had to help them win the competition. This time, it was every man and metahuman for themselves, only three rules applying anymore. It wasn't going to be anywhere near as traditional as a normal eating contest.

The rules were as follows:

Rule 1: Every team's members must eat all their food. If one member gives up, they all lose.

Rule 2: Alien are allowed to use their powers to help them win.

Rule 3: Whoever eats more in 20 minutes wins.

And the menu for the three rounds was quite drastic, to say the least:

Round 1 of 3

5-Original Burgers , 5-Original Meat Pies , 5-Double Meat Burgers , 5- Double Meat MeatPies , 5-Special Hamburgers , 7-Fire Burgers , 7-US BBQ Flavour Teen Burgers , 7-Double Meat Burgers , 7-Special Double Meat Burgers , 7-Fire Hot Meat Pies , 50-French Fries , 50-Yam Fries , 50-Spam Fries

Round 2 of 3

10-Original Burgers , 10-Original Meat Pies , 10-Double Meat Burgers , 10- Double Meat MeatPies , 10-Special Hamburgers , 10-Fire Burgers , 10-US BBQ Flavour Teen Burgers , 10-Double Meat Burgers , 10-Special Double Meat Burgers , 10-Fire Hot Meat Pies , 100-French Fries , 100-Yam Fries , 100-Spam Fries

Round 3 of 3

20-Original Burgers , 20-Original Meat Pies , 20-Double Meat Burgers , 20- Double Meat MeatPies , 20-Special Hamburgers , 20-Fire Burgers , 20-US BBQ Flavour Teen Burgers , 20-Double Meat Burgers , 20-Special Double Meat Burgers , 20-Fire Hot Meat Pies , 200-French Fries , 200-Yam Fries , 200-Spam Fries

Team 1 belonged to The Flash, and the other members included Cisco Ramon aka Vibe and Doctor Caitlin Snow aka Killer Frost and Joe West and Iris West and Ralph Dibny aka Elongated Man and Cecille Horton and Harrison Sherloque Wells and Nora West Allen aka XS.

Team 2 belonged to the Green Arrow and other members included Felicity Smoak aka Overwatch and Dinah Drake aka Black Canary and John Diggle aka Spartan and Helena Bertinelli aka The Huntress and Laurel Lance aka Black Canary and Thea Queen aka Speedy and Quentin Lance.

Team 3 belonged to the White Canary and other members included Mick Rory aka Heat Wave and Zari Tomaz and Mona Wu aka Wolfie and Nate Heywood aka Steel and Leonard Snart aka Captain Cold and Ray Palmer aka The Atom.

Team 4 belonged to "Supergirl" (Alex had been given the honor of standing in for the absent Kryptonian) and other members included James Olsen aka Guardian and J'onn J'onzz aka Martian Manhunter and Doctor Eliza Danvers and Nia Nal aka Dreamer and Alex Danvers and Lena Luthor and Maggie Sawyer and Winn Schott and Cat Grant and M'gann M'orzz aka Megan and Lyra Strayd and Android Querl Dox aka Brainiac 5 and US Army Lucy Lane.

Team 5 belonged to Batman and other members included Kate Kane aka Batwomen and Sophie Moore and Claire Clover aka Gotham Girl and Cassandra Cain aka Orphan and Barbara "Barb" Gordon aka BatGirl and Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth and Julia Pennyworth and Damian Wayne aka Robin and Luke Fox aka Batwing and Selina Kyle aka Catwomen and Lucius Fox.

"Are we ready for this?" Alex asked her friends. Only a few of them had been looking forward to this gut-bursting event, but in the spirit of Christmas and compassion (and due to Lena's alliance with the food company) all of them were representing their Earth in the upcoming Christmas competition.

"As ready as we'll ever be," Winn replied, actually sounding nervous.

"I haven't eaten since yesterday and I still don't think I will be able to do this," James confessed.

"You'll be fine," Alex tried to promise him, but she was cut off by the announcer hastily calling out for the teams to get ready to engage in Round 1.

The first team to be eliminated was the White Canary's. As voracious as all of their appetites had been, it still was not enough and, in the end, they came in last.

"Awww, man!" Sara pretended to pout in defeat, but she could not stop a good-natured smile.

"Good luck to everyone else!" Ray said as the team left the stands to watch from the rest of the crowd. As silly as it may have sounded, the eating contest actually drew in quite the crowd and hoards of people across all Earths were present in this one today all just to watch their favorite superheroes duke it out in the most unlikely of ways on the most unlikely of battlefields.

As Sara's team left the stage, a few of them snagged a few leftover burgers and meat pies humorously before joining the rest of the crowd below to watch the remaining teams move onto the next round.

The next teams to go were the Green Arrow's team and Flash's. They both tied for last place and were subsequently eliminated together.

"Oh well, better luck next time!" Flash shrugged cheerfully as he and his team took the "walk of shame" down off the stage and into the packed crowd below.

"I told you this was a ridiculous idea!" Green Arrow was scoffing to Felicity, but she only nudged him with a playful, adorable little laugh. He tried to continue to look at her with stern disapproval, but the sight of her sweet smile and sparkling eyes made it impossible for him to do anything other than smile back down at her. There was a reason they were such a happy couple after all!

"C'mon, Team Supergirl!" Flash shouted excitedly as the final round commenced. He raised a scarlet fist and let out a happy warcry in honor of his fallen friend. A few of the happier ones of Supergirl's lot had the grace to smile and wave back down at him while the rest prepared themselves to gorge once again. After the announcer started the timer, it was just them and their burgers, for 20 straight minutes.

By the end of those minutes, although it was a very close call, the Batman's team finally won out.

"Awww, nuts!" Winn, like Sara, pretended to be disappointed about the loss.

"Oh well," James sighed, patting a bloated stomach as he and the rest of the Superfriends descended the stage to allow for the Bat Family to take their rightful title as champions of this year's Christmas competition.

"You did the best you could!" Barbra whispered as the Superfriends walked on by. "You guys came real close to winning! Maybe next year you can try again and you just might win!" she was speaking with genuine warmth and encouragement, but the Superfriends pretended to huff at her glib jibe at their loss.

"Next year, we'll make sure you're the first team out!" Alex threatened playfully as she nudged past Catwoman and Batwoman both.

"Ooooh, I quiver with fear!" Batwoman teased, earning a laugh from Catwoman.

"You should," Lena replied as she, the last one in the lineup, finally walked on past the ladies in the Batman Team. The Luthor gave them all dry and mysterious smiles and they had the grace (or perhaps it was just good sense) to look at least a little bit worried. Lena could be very scary when she wanted to be. But even though the Superfriends lost to the Bat Family on that Christmas competition, there was so much good feeling in the air all around them that the disappointment of the loss was swift to fade away, replaced only by warmth and good cheer as new and old friends from all the known universes came together to laugh and be merry. It was a good year and a good Christmas, all things considered.


	20. Chapter 14: The Big Bang

Date: December 26 2025

"Did Superman come?!" Lex hissed urgently, angrily, impatiently into his phone.

"No, unfortunately," Lenny replied, skimming the footage of the Christmas competition. He heard Lex utter one short, soft curse under his breath before silence reigned between the two of them again. Despite how terrifying Lenny found Lex, especially in times like this when he was really mad, he couldn't help but admire the Luthor's self control. It was clear that he was beyond outraged that Superman didn't attend the eating contest, but he managed to contain all of that anger and put it into one soft, short little cuss word. Lenny was sure a larger fallout would follow as soon as Lex was free to rant and rage without guards breathing down his neck, but until then, he was going to do his best to put a check on his temper.

"I will not be able to visit you again until spring," the Luthor fought hard to give this next set of instructions to his empty headed lacky as calmly as possible. "Until then, I want you to continue to study all of our possible enemies, and see if you can come up with something- anything!- to draw Superman in…" he growled into the phone. A few minutes later, then, their call ended, and Lex was stripped of his phone priviledges once again. Lenny, meanwhile, was quick to go out and do exactly as Lex had asked.

In truth, that Christmas competition was nothing but a farce, a lie, an act! It was all only ever a show to get as many superheroes into one place as possible. With all of them there together, Lex was able to scope out the competition, so to speak. That contest had only happened for him to see the full extent of everyone's powers, hence why this competition had been exclusive to superheroes with rules stipulating that any and all powers that the contestants had were fairplay to use.

The evil Luthor had hoped Superman might've made an appearance, but he was still in outer space, alternating between hunting for Supergirl and living on Argo with his wife, Lois Lane. Although he had known about the Christmas competition, he had opted not to go, and this infuriated Lex beyond all comprehension. But what could he do? Superman had no close ties with anybody on Earth, so Lex had no way to trick him into visiting a Universe Food location the way he had tricked all of the other superheroes of the Earth(s).

Just as Lenny had suspected, as soon as it was safe for him to, Lex practically exploded and the big bang happened. He began ranting and raging like an angry little boy that his prime enemy had failed to show up to his little premeditated scouting session. He cursed and cussed Superman out violently, snarling to himself and pacing his cell like an angry lion trapped in a cage. It was truly a terrifying sight to behold. But what else could he do? He had no way to bring Superman to Earth, except through sheer dumb luck alone. Because it was still Lex's biggest goal in life to destroy the Man of Steel, it was not hard to see why Superman's refusal to return to Earth was outraging the Luthor so much. But it hadn't always been this way…

35 Years ago, as a young lad, Lex had been best friends with 14 Year Old Clark Kent. The two were inseparable, closer even than brothers. At least until the two boys grew up into men and began growing apart. When Lex heard about an increase in the alien population on Earth, he grew angry, territorial and suspicious. Comic books, movies and all sorts of other media had warped his view on aliens and he saw them not as equals, but as monsters who roamed the night, looking for someone to devour.

Lex was beholden to these skewed views of aliens, treating his movies and shows as gospel truths. Aliens were not friends, but enemies to fear and destroy. His anti-alien side really made its first ever appearance around that time and when he realized just who Clark Kent really was, that anti-alien side was quick to rear its fearsome and ugly head against him as well.

Turning on the man he once loved like a brother, Lex began to find all sorts of other aliens living amongst humans, and each new discovery left him more disgusted than the last. As far as he was concerned, all aliens were subhuman lowlife scum who were stealing Earth away from its natural owners: humans. As far as Lex was concerned, all aliens deserved to be enslaved because, as invaders and parasites on Earth, they owed all of humanity a debt. As far as Lex was concerned, aliens were no more than cows and pigs compared to humans.

"Nothing is free in this world and we were here first, so how dare these outer space freaks come to Earth expecting a warm welcome?! What have they done to deserve a life on this planet with us?! A bunch of no-good, rotten little freeloaders!" Lex had begun to speak and believe these things and, insistent that aliens owed humans compensation for coming to Earth and living on it, that was when the mad Luthor got his first inklings about Universe Food.

"They owe us, we deserve to be paid. These aliens should be helping further mankind and improve and empower it…" and when Lex got this idea into his head, it was all downhill from there. He had only entertained the notion of eating aliens for sustenance as a sick, twisted activism, but as the years rolled on and his madness, hatred and paranoia grew, it became less and less of a joke.

At last, the mad Luthor finally put his childhood activism into reality and began plotting up a way to use aliens as a source of energy for humanity, through eating them. Thus, Universe Food was finally, properly born, brought to life in an explosion as dramatic and intense and fiery as the real Big Bang itself. Universe Food experienced its own Big Bang, its own genesis, as every universe did, no matter how big or small. Then after its Big Bang, just like the universe it was named after, Universe Food began to grow and expand until it stretched across the cosmos in all directions, endless and powerful. Thus was the birth and growth of Lex's evil universe.

Thus, Lex's humane dreams of making aliens earn their right to live on Earth were brought into reality, and humans began to gain sustenance and abilities from aliens. Like he had told Kara Zor El so long ago, aliens were still making great contributions to society, but little did anyone (other than him, Lillian and Lenny) know, these contributions were the last things anyone could've ever expected.


	21. Chapter 15: US Thanksgiving

Date: US Thanksgiving 2026

In the days to come, despite all the hunches the DEO could come up with, the truth behind the missing aliens was still a mystery to them. The kidnappings were highly sporadic, happening with years in between each instance. That alone should've implied that the events were all unrelated, but the ways in which the kidnappings occured were too similar for it to be that random. And peace between humans and aliens was relatively high, so to have these kidnappings implied some sort of hate group. At the same time, however, no hate group ever stepped forward and none of the kidnappers ever left behind any sort of calling card or identification.

And the attacks were too well-thought out to have been done by anything less than an organized group, so it was no mere lone wolf or singular psychopath. It had to be multiple people, but who? No known organization could be linked to the sporadic disappearances and no new organizations had popped up in the past few years either.

And worst of all, since no whisper was ever heard from or about the victims or their fates, there was nothing to track. No one ever tried to put an alien up for ransom and no missing alien was ever found in some sort of underground slave trade. They just vanished one day and that was it. It all strongly suggested that the victims were murdered. But by whom? And how and why and where? It was such a quick, clean operation, yet it seemed entirely pointless and there was never a single trace or trail left behind to follow…

For the months, the DEO cracked down hard on trying to figure out where the missing aliens had gone this time, but no results could ever be found. Alex was reaching her wits end.

"Come on, Alex, we need to take a break," it was James who came to the elder Danvers sister. She was currently running tired fingers through frazzled hair as she, for the millionth time, studied the case files on the missing aliens. She had them all memorized by now, but she still poured over them every single day trying to see if there was some connection between all of them that would shed some light on the mystery.

"We can't just take a break, James," Alex growled at him.

"I know you're stressed out, but you've been staring at that same file for like an hour now, you need to rest," James replied calmly, not at all offended by Alex's sharp temper.

"I might be onto something, so leave me alone!" she shot back angrily.

"Alex, Thanksgiving dinner is this evening. Please promise me you'll at least show up to that?" James asked at last, gently placing a hand on the DEO agent's shoulder.

"Crap!" she whispered suddenly. "I almost forgot!"

"So you'll be there then?" James couldn't stop a smile as Alex finally turned away from her work.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be along later," she mumbled and James shot her a gentle smile before turning to leave. He admired her work ethic and devotion to solving this seemingly-arbitrary mission, but at the same time, the poor girl really did need to take a break every once in a while. This dinner would be good for her.

A few hours later, Alex finally left her work behind, heading over to Eliza's place where she and several others were all going to be sharing the special meal. It would, of course, be held in homage to Kara Danvers. Even though it had been years since Kara's disappearance, the grief never truly went away, especially for Eliza and Alex, so they still chose to do honorary meals for the late Kara, and none of Kara's friends ever protested any of these little homages.

"In memory of Supergirl and Supergirl reporter, Kara Danvers," Cat Grant was in the middle of saying as Alex walked through the door. Sitting to her right was her latest boyfriend, an actor named Dimitri Lind. She had also brought both of her sons along.

"Alex!" Eliza got up, swift to embrace her surviving daughter, tears in her eyes as she did so.

"Hey, mom," Alex whispered back, already feeling tears sting her own eyes as she and her mother hugged. Everyone else turned away politely, Cat ceasing her toast to Supergirl and Kara just long enough to allow Alex to get her things in order and join them at the table. Maggie was the next one to get up and go over to greet Alex privately, kissing her softly before taking her hand and leading her back over to the table.

Alex finally placed herself between Maggie and J'onn and J'onn gave her an unusually gentle smile, eyes conveying encouragement even though he said nothing out loud. But even though J'onn didn't speak, Alex understood him perfectly and she smiled back at him just as warmly.

"I see you've opted to get Universe Food again," Alex smirked weakly as she sat down at the table with all the other Superfriends.

"Yes, but it's not just burgers this time," Cat gave the surviving Danvers a dry smile. "They've started expanding out beyond basic burgers and have, in honor of this special holiday, released lasagna."

"Oooh, it looks good," despite herself, Alex was genuinely interested to see what they would all be dining upon tonight. As good as the burgers were, the lasagna looked much better.

"There are multiple flavors too," Winn said, pointing to each plate on the table. "Original Meat, Fire Hot, Double Meat and Triple Meat."

"Jeez, think you've ordered enough?" Alex snickered.

"They were gifts!" Lena finally spoke up, looking a little embarrassed.

"Oh, so this is what your partnership with the mighty burger joint entails?" Alex gestured playfully to the spread set out before them.

"Yes," Lena continued to look a little embarrassed while everyone else laughed warmly.

"Don't worry though, I'm sure Nia will be able to eat it all," James said suddenly, smirking a little. That girl was essentially Kara's spiritual successor, half alien and all superhero, while also having a large mind and heart and stomach. If there was anyone who could eat all of the food, it was Nia.

"Hey!" the young hybrid pretended to get offended, but she was too cheerful and cheery to successfully full off an irritated scowl. Beside her, Brainy and Maeve both snickered a little.

"He's not wrong, you know?" Maeve asked.

"Shut it," Nia replied, nudging her older sister playfully.

"Oh, come on then! Let's just eat!" Lyra interrupted the sisters' playful spat, reaching boldly across the table for a plate. The others' laughter quickly turned on her but she was unrepentant as she took a large helping of every kind of lasagna available.

"And you think I'm a pig," Nia snickered. "I think we've found someone even worse!"

"That's my wife you're talking about there," Winn warned playfully, pretending to wrap a protective arm around Lyra. Another round of gentle laughter filled the air and Cat finally finished her toast.

"In memory of Supergirl and Supergirl reporter, Kara Danvers. Though they may be gone from this life, they are not gone from our lives, and so they will both live on, through us, and we will do our best to be the conduit through which their heroic spirits will live and work through again. In that, then, death shall never truly conquer any of us and we shall live forever, immortalized by our actions and by each other! To Kara Danvers and Supergirl!" as she finished her overly-eloquent little speech, Cat raised her glass, and everyone else at the table mirrored the action.

"To Kara Danvers and Supergirl!" and then no one said anything else as they dug into their food.


	22. Chapter 16: Silent Night

The next time all the Superfriends dined together under one roof, three more members joined in and one more was lost. The three to join were Alura Zor-El, Superman and Lois Lane, visiting Earth for the first time since before Kara Danvers went missing.

"Woah! Superman!" Winn gasped as the famous Man of Steel touched down in National City, knocking on the door to Alex's apartment.

"Mr. Winn Schott," the Kyptonian smiled politely.

"OMG, you remembered me!" Winn squealed, pressing his hands to his face as a squeak of delight tore itself from his throat. His eyes and mouth were comically wide.

"I feel like a kid on Christmas!" he cried as Superman and Lois entered into the apartment.

"Well, you are," Alex snickered, having come over to greet the two visitors.

"Hey, I am NOT a kid!" Winn pouted. Alex only needed to raise an eyebrow for Winn to understand how childish he looked at the moment. His pout deepened until he realized that Superman was chuckling, and then that sheepish and wonderstruck expression returned to his boyish face once again.

Other guests to the Christmas party included Lucy, James, J'onn, Eliza, Nia, Lena, Maggie, Alex, Cat, M'gann, Jess and Lyra. As one might have expected, their plates were full of Universe Food menu items, from burgers to meat pies and back again. Once again, in the spirit of the holidays, Universe Food had come out with some special flavors, such as gingerbread. Their crusts were flavored like gingerbread and the meat was seasoned with ginger, just to really hit home what time of year it was.

"Mmm, great stuff!"

"Delicious!"

"Well, it's… interesting… to say the least!"

"Hmmm, it's got a nice zest to it!"

All around, there seemed to be a general approval for the food and there were contented smiles as meat pie after meat pie was devoured, downed with cups and cups of hot cocoa. In the background, Christmas music was playing, and every once in a while, someone would join in for a little, and maybe even dance as well. It really was a sweet little Christmas party, nothing too wild or grandiose, yet still very enjoyable and spirited.

Towards the end of the night, then, Alex and Eliza managed to dig up some old footage of the young Kara Danvers, back when she was still only a clumsy little teenager getting accustomed to life with the Danvers. They were very sweet, cute, mundane little videos that made the bitterly cold Christmas night feel warm with light and life. There was footage of Kara as a nerdy little middle schooler winning science awards and there was footage of Kara as a beautiful young high schooler going to prom for the first time. In between, there was footage of her first Christmas with the Danvers and other little moments of joy like her going out for ice cream with Alex and studying science with Jeremiah and Eliza.

"She was so cute as a kid," Lena murmured, tears in her eyes as she watched the younger Kara dance around on screen, this footage being of her in a school play.

"She was," Eliza agreed, in the middle of wiping tears from her eyes. Alex sat beside her, crying as well. And so was J'onn, though he was fighting hard to keep quiet. Sweet, dorky, nerdy little Kara. She was so lively and kind, showing immense strength and bravery even when she was still so new to the rest of the world.

"I'm glad you were able to make her so happy," Alura smiled tearfully at Eliza. Alura had not realized who Supergirl truly was to her until Superman made it known to her after she first went missing. It was a bittersweet thing to think about, Alura's first realization that Kara was alive and well coming only after she had been kidnapped, but after that, Alura had joined Superman and Lois in their hunt through the heavens. Even though no clues were ever found, she had finally conceded to join Superman and Lois down to Earth in order to visit the people who had raised Kara in her place. From what the footage was detailing, Kara had been left in good hands, and Alura would always be grateful, even though she never had the chance to see Kara herself.

The footage finally ended with Kara's final Christmas with the Danvers.

"Oh man, this one was chaotic!" Eliza covered her eyes, still sniffling, but now also laughing with embarrassment. That Christmas, everyone had had a little bit too much eggnog. A drunken Alex had tried to kiss her, much to the amusement of everyone else, while Lyra and Winn had tried and failed at having sex. Even though Winn and Lyra only became an official couple a year later, the two had actually known each other for a few years prior.

And Lena had been at that party too, just as drunk as everyone else. During that year, she had insisted that all aliens were secretly cows in disguise, trying to escape and overthrow humanity. It was the kind of crazy crap Lex would've spewed in his paranoid delusions, but because it was coming from Lena during a lighthearted and rowdy Christmas party, it only evoked drunken laughter and agreement from everyone else.

That was why, this year's Christmas party had been very strict on its no-alcohol rule. Alex had been none too pleased with the rule, but after Eliza reminded her about the chaos of the last time the alcohol got out of hand, Alex decided to agree to a little prohibition.

By the end of the footage, everyone had grown pretty tired and, one by one, everyone began to head home. Final farewells were exchanged and everyone spread out across the city on their ways back home. This was where the Superfriends lost another member. Lyra had been right in the middle of walking home when she witnessed the abduction of four National City University students (male Adaptiod, male Aellon, female from a lesser known race and female Aloi) by a handful of shady masked men. She attempted to cry out and run for help, but she didn't get very far before she, too, was attacked by one of these dark figures. That was when things, quite literally, became a silent night for her.

The next time Lyra woke up, she was trapped inside a glass chamber. On either side of her were a handful of other aliens in the exact same predicament. They were all stripped bare. They tried to scream out to one another but the glass was so thick that they couldn't communicate. After a time, Lenny Thorul arrived…

One of the glass containers began to move forward towards and through the cloning machine. Once there, metal arms were quick to shoot out and grab hold of the alien 'female Aloi' inside. She began to panic, screaming and crying as she thrashed uselessly against the chains that held her in place. She was forced through the cloning machine and once it had her DNA, it went to work. Meanwhile, she was continually pushed along to her final destination. She reached the whirring, screaming machinery, scarlet-stained blades spinning like mad. The others looked away, but all too soon, they had joined her, leaving behind an endless trail of clones to follow in their footsteps, one right after another, into the cruel jaws of death.

Next up to be Clone then cooked was male Adaptiod then, male Aellon then was Clone then cooked, then Clone then cooked was female from a lesser known race.

Lyra was the final to go, screams muffled first by glass and then by clanking machinery as she followed her predecessor's unwilling footsteps, through fire and metal, until her screaming stopped forever, but even though HER screaming was done, she had an endless supply of clones there to keep the music alive.

"No, no, NO, NO, NO, NO!" Lyra pounded on the glass and then thrashed against the long metal claws holding her in place. She turned a desperate and wild face towards the eerily contented Lenny Thorul.

"I want to live! I am not an animal, to be killed and eaten as food!" and she continued to scream this sentence until she could not scream anymore, but Lenny was cruel, and pretended as if the whirring machinery was too loud for him to hear her properly.

"WHAT'S THAT?" he shouted mockingly. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU! IT'S TOO LOUD IN HERE!" and then he cackled as he watched her slowly being turned into mince meat, ripped apart and burned up in rapid succession. An endless stream of clones was there so that he could watch her die over and over and over again. It was certainly not a silent night for him, but it was a very satisfying one nonetheless.

"Merry Christmas, Lex," he joked as he held out his phone towards the sound of the new dying aliens.

"Merry Christmas indeed," Lex replied with the same dark humor. "Santa has brought me everything that I asked for: five new aliens and countless clones to follow in their footsteps! If I had known how well this would all turn out, I would've asked for coal years ago!" he added with a maniacal cackle as he reveled in the screams of his dying enemies. In his mind, that sound was sweeter than any Christmas carol. And the best part, in Lex's mind, was the harmony, an endless stream of the shrieks of Kara Zor-El. Her clones were still being churned through the nightmarish slaughterhouse, having been the alien to be its victim the longest. Then, once he was forced to hang up the phone, Lex returned to his cell and requested a bit of music.

"Just one simple carol," he pretended to beg. And his request was finally granted. The song he chose was "Silent Night". If nothing else, Lex really did have quite an interesting sense of humor.


	23. Chapter 17: 10th Anniversary

Date: March 2 2029

When Universe Food finally hit its 10-year mark, new foods were brought out in celebration. Among other things, the company created the "Grade-A Grub Burger", the "Big 10" (which came as a burger and meat pie both) and they added potstickers to the menu. They also made their lasagna available year-round when, in all of the years prior, it was only sold during holiday-events during the year. There was White Meat lasagna, Double and Triple Meat lasagna, Flaming Hot and Deca-Layer. Universe Food also tried its hand at pizza. They were the standard type pizzas: cheese, pepperoni or sausage, but what made them different and special from all other pizzas was that one could also add Universe Food's meat to the pizza as well. Since Universe Food was still highly secretive about its recipe, that's what made their pizzas so unique.

As one might've expected, the entire universe clamored to try out all of Universe Food's menu items and plenty of reviews, promotions and ads popped up almost overnight as every human and alien wanted to share their views on the new foods. One of the more memorable and (in)famous speakers on the matter was Lena Luthor. Although she did garner a few snickers and sneers for essentially becoming a spokesperson to a burger joint, because of her close ties with the company through L-Corp, she had felt obligated to lend her voice to the conversation. Sure, it was a silly thing for her to do, but didn't Universe Food deserve her help after all it had done for her and the Superfriends?

"I've tried every new thing on the menu," Lena announced to the camera, still chewing a little bit as she gestured to the table sitting before her. On the table was every single new dish the company had brought out for its 10th anniversary. "And I can honestly say, hands down, that this is some of the best food I've ever eaten!" she swallowed a forkful of the newest meat pie as she said this. She felt like a fool, but she still felt content, and she hadn't been lying, the food really was killer!

"And I'm not just saying that as part of some sort of paid promotion!" the Luthor added lightly with a laugh. "This really is some Grade-A eating!"

Cat Grant had also been asked to do a few ads. She had declined at first, considering it beneath her stature as a media empress, but after enough pleading and cajoling, she agreed to at least put in a good word for the company.

"Of course they would ask me!" she declared boastfully. "I am, after all, the queen of all media, and who better to ask for an opinion from than moi?" she raised her chin. "But I must say, Universe Food has, once again, pleasantly surprised us all. 10 years and counting and they still have yet to let any of us down. These new dishes are quite delicious and while the joint refuses to allow me to report on what their secret is, I can say with all confidence that whatever meat they use must come from a very wondrous source indeed!"

And while the rest of the universe could only muse along with Cat about the secret recipe behind Universe Food meat, one of the two men who knew the answer watched the ad with a very sick, sadistic smile.

"Oh my dear kitten!" he muttered darkly to the screen before him. "If only you knew! What story you'd be able to spin from that!" and to stifle a sinister laugh, the man quickly took a bite of his own burger. It was not one of the special 10th anniversary ones, rather, it was the original, but that was only because, in his opinion, the original was the best! There was nothing more satisfying to that man than the sweet taste of Kryptonian meat. There was nothing more triumphant than devouring one of his most hated enemies of all.

All around him, other prisoners ate a plethora of Universe Food products, items spanning the entire 10-year run of the mysterious and marvelous food chain, but not a single one of them was quite as pleased as Lex Luthor himself. As he continued to dine happily on his Kara-meat burger, all of the other inmates grunted and huffed as they chowed down on their own choices of delicacy.

ooo

"Hey, Winn, what's wrong?" it was James who noticed first, having been one of Winn's closest friends.

"It's Lyra," came the miserable reply. "She's not answering any of her texts or calls!"

"Well, you did say she was on a trip home, right?" James asked gently before taking a seat beside his despondent friend. They were currently in the DEO breakroom.

"Yes, but it's been three months! And this silence was only just recent. Up until now, she would answer me without fail. But now? All of sudden? Nothing…"

"Well, how long is "only just recently"?" James asked.

"A month."

"An entire month?"

"Nothing but radio silence…"

Although James could not deny some level of shock at hearing how long Lyra's silence was lasting, he tried to look at it rationally, presuming that she was either busy, or just had no present access to power. After all, as far as technology had come, cross-planet communication still wasn't easy.

"But that can't be it!" Winn cried. "I mean, it could, but it's not! I know it! I can feel it! And don't laugh at me!" he added when he saw James raise a disbelieving eyebrow. "I know it sounds crazy, but I can feel it in my bones that something is just not right. Even from that very first phonecall when Lyra had explained that she'd been called away to an off-Earth family reunion, Winn had felt as if something terrible was happening. He had brushed it off at first, chalking it up to sheer nerves, and Lyra did keep in touch with him quite routinely for the first two months of her absence, but now? All of a sudden? Nothing. Nothing but silence. And nothing Winn said or did yielded any reaction from her. And it had been like this for an entire month.

"That bad feeling is back, James," Winn moaned sadly. "And this time, I think it's here to stay…" and unfortunately, Winn proved all too correct. At James' suggestion, Winn went to try and contact some of the family Lyra was supposedly visiting, but all of them denied a reunion ever occurring and all of them insisted that they had not seen Lyra in almost a year. That was when the red flags really began to go off in Winn's mind. First, Lyra's silence. Then, all of her family insisting that she was not with them. Uh oh.

And then Winn went to J'onn, worriedly begging for his help. J'onn decided to help Winn out but yielded no better results. He checked multiple nearby planets, and all of the other most-likely places an alien like Lyra would visit. She was in none of these places. And there was no record of her being in any of them either. No witnesses, no footage, no documents, just a complete and utter disappearance, perfect and sudden.

"Mr. Schott, I think it's time we put in another Missing Persons, Aliens file," J'onn told the younger human one day, voice grave and face stern. First, Winn went deathly pale, then he fell to his knees, then he began to plead, begging that J'onn just be joking. But alas, it was not to be. J'onn could only give him one regretful nod before he sent out the signal that another alien had been kidnapped.

"NOOOOO!" Winn's wail was chilling and full of despair. It was frightening, but no one had the heart to hush him or move him. He needed time to process and grieve the fact that Lyra was missing now as well. And as Winn continued to sit there on his knees, sobbing in agony, it occurred to him that maybe Lyra's disappearance was not as recent as it seemed. The last time he'd ever saw her in person was at the Christmas party last year. And then she vanished the next day, leaving him a voicemail saying that she needed to go off-world. But what if that hadn't really been her on the phone? What if it had only been an imposter the entire time? It was a thought terrifying and heartbreaking enough to burn Winn to his very core.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"


	24. Chapter 18: Good Food And Good Company

Date: March 22 2029

"Come on, Alex, it's time for you to take a break," J'onn finally broke the pained silence and wrapped a tender arm around the DEO agent's shoulder. It was an unusually affectionate and gentle thing for him to do, but underneath his stoic exterior, there was a heart of gold. And he loved Alex as much as any father could ever love a daughter. She really was just like his own child. It broke his heart to see her looking so dead inside and he gladly shed his gruff, authoritative persona to be the comforter that she so desperately needed.

On Alex's other side, James did likewise, placing a comforting hand on her other shoulder before gently leading her away from the computer screen. Alex, once again, looked like she wanted to protest, but when she could think of nothing to say, she fell silent once more and left the area without resistance. Instead, she allowed J'onn and James to lead her onward and upward, out into the sunlight to try and take her mind off of some of her troubles. Not that she was going to be able to forget what had happened any time soon, or with any ease…

After Winn's screams and sobs had attracted enough attention, a few other DEO agents were quick to realize what had happened. Lyra was missing. Likely kidnapped, just like Kara and several others before her. In no time flat, every available agent was dragged onto the scene as the standard protocol for missing persons (aliens) was set into motion with terrifying speed. But unfortunately, despite everyone's best efforts, Lyra's fate was just as mysterious to the DEO as Kara and all of the others. Winn was sent to the med bay immediately to be tended to by some of the therapists and doctors on staff. Everyone else, meanwhile, put the pedal to the metal in order to glean every little last piece of information they could about Lyra, and her kidnapping.

But here they stood now, two and a half weeks later, and still nothing. Winn was suffering from a very deep and dangerous depression, kept in the med bay almost around the clock so that doctors could look after and take care of him. J'onn, Alex, James and the others, meanwhile, led the crusade, searching frantically in every corner of the known universe with a desperate hope that maybe something, even one tiny trail, about Lyra would pop up. Alex had never worked so long or hard in her life, scarcely even stopping to take bathroom breaks. J'onn, meanwhile, wasted no time in taking to the stars, recruiting Superman immediately to help him search for Lyra. And James had worked just as hard as Alex, both of their fingers nearly numb from all the typing they'd done in the past two and a half weeks.

Alex's eyes were almost unable to shut now because of how long she'd forced them to remain open. She was almost delirious. It was at the start of week three of Lyra's kidnapping that James and J'onn finally called her away, physically forcing her to take a break. She had protested at first, fighting physically and verbally to stay on her monitor, hunting relentlessly for Lyra, but at last, J'onn and James managed to pry her away and get her to agree to at least share a meal with them. Heaven knew how long it had been since Alex had last eaten.

"Where are we going?" the young agent finally asked.

"Universe Food, for some of their new pizza," J'onn replied, the barest of smirks flickering on his aged face. If there was one thing that could cheer a Danvers up, it was food, especially if it was greasy, deep fried. fast food, Unhealthy? Probably, even though doctors claimed otherwise about Universe Food. Delicious? Definitely!

"Of course," Alex replied and, just as J'onn hoped, a small smile played across her face. As miserable, stressed, upset, disturbed and frustrated as Lyra's case was making Alex, she really could not stop a small laugh of amusement and fondness as J'onn mentioned their favorite eatery of all time. Universe Food. Of course. Where else would any of them ever go? Universe Food, it was always Universe Food, and Alex liked that. It was a place for good food and good company.

"We're bringing all of our friends too," James chimed in. "Winn, Cat, Eliza, Nia, Maggie, Superman, Lois, Alura Zor El, Lucy, Maeve Nal and Paul Nal!"

"Well, that's quite a list," Alex laughed dryly.

"We could all use something to help bolster our spirits," J'onn replied, echoing Alex's wry expression. "Besides, it's something of a party for Winn. We're trying to cheer him up, remind him that all of the rest of us are still here for him no matter what. Lyra's loss has clearly done irreversible damage to his psyche and I don't expect him to ever fully, truly get over what happened, but he does need to know that he does still have family here who love and care about him…" J'onn's face flickered back and forth between pained and affectionate. If he saw the Danvers sisters like his honorary daughters, then Winn was an honorary son.

Goofy as Winn was, he was sharper than a tack and had a heart larger than the entire universe. If there was anyone J'onn loved and respected (outside of the Danvers) it was Winn. And Winn really did need this. He deserved to be reminded of all of the love and support he still had left, even in light of his wife's disappearance.

"Good, good," Alex's dry smile slowly became softer and kinder. She knew that no one was taking this loss quite as hard as him, and for good reasons. So honestly, if there was anyone out there in all the world who deserved this sort of mini-party full of good food and good company, it was Winn…

"Ah! It's so good to see you again, Alex!" Nia was the first one to pipe up and a fond, unreadable smile spread across Alex's face in return as she, J'onn and James made their arrival into the Universe Food restaurant. Nia was a relatively new addition to the Superfriends, having joined only a few months ago. In that time, Alex had come to see her like a new little sister, not a replacement of Kara per se, but just as another sister to love and protect. Nia certainly did have some of Kara's old playful, goof, clumsy mannerisms after all. And Alex was far from the only one to notice how similar Nia was to Kara. It was part of what endeared her so much to the other members of the Superfriends. No one saw her as a replacement to Kara, but she did bring that old spark back into everyone's eyes.

"Hello Nia," Alex said as she took a seat right beside Maggie. Without a word, Maggie wrapped a supportive arm around Alex. They'd been married for just over six years now and, because of that, Maggie always seemed to know what Alex was thinking and feeling, even if she wasn't told about it. She knew how hard Alex was taking this latest case, taking it even more personally than any of the incidences before just because Lyra had been a close friend of hers. She viewed this latest travesty as something of a personal failure on her part and although Maggie wanted desperately to disagree, she knew that it was still not yet the time to have that talk with Alex. Now was only the time for silence, comfort and support, a gentle understanding. So that's just what Maggie did. Resting her head against Alex's shoulder, the arm wrapped around Alex's body began to stroke her arm in understanding and affection.

Alex managed a weak smile in return. If there was anyone in all the world, apart from Kara, that understood Alex so well so easily, it was Maggie. Maggie never failed to know how Alex was feeling even if Alex, herself, couldn't find the words to explain it. For that, Alex was infinitely grateful that fate had somehow brought them together and allowed them to stay united even in the face of all this death and despair.

Eliza sat on Alex's other side, J'onn sitting beside her. All around, the circle of Superfriends completed itself. Only two were absent from the count. Brainy and Lena. Brainy was Nia's boyfriend, another semi-recent addition to the team, having come along only a few months before Nia. He was still studying the data around Lyra's disappearance, even though there wasn't much to go off of. The kidnappers had hidden their tracks far too well. Even a level 12 intellect like himself was having a hard time figuring out how it all happened.

Lena, meanwhile, was at a conference, doing more "ads" for Universe Food. Despite having insisted that she would never become a burger spokesperson, that seemed to be exactly what had happened.

"Poor Lena," Alex laughed lightly. "But at least we can say she's here with us in spirit, probably eating the same exact junk food we are!" she added, raising a slice of her Meat Lover's pizza. Maggie mirrored the movement, she and Alex playfully bumping each other's pizza slice's together. Superman and Lois were busy devouring a Deca-Cheese Pizza (though while Lois was only on her second slice, Superman was already on his second pizza). Lucy and James were sharing a pepperoni (or so it was called, but no one knew for sure what the meat was exactly. Or what made it so special and different, because it tasted far better than normal pepperoni). Winn had managed to cheer up enough to have a small, plain cheese pizza all to himself. It wasn't much, but being surrounded by family and friends who loved him returned a bit of his appetite to him and he managed to eat the first real meal he'd had since Lyra disappeared…

Eliza and Alura nd J'onn were all sharing a sausage pizza, though Alura seemed to be eating far more and far faster than the other two. This, naturally, prompted a few jokes from J'onn and Eliza both.

"I can see where Kara got her appetite from," J'onn had joked as Alura devoured another slice. Alura pretended to frown at him, but the allure of another slice of pizza proved too much for her and she was quick to turn her attention away from him and back to the food. Cat and Dimitri were also sharing a sausage pizza while Nia and her father and sister were busy trying to see who could eat their pizza the fastest.

"Good food and good company, I love it!" Alex murmured fondly as she and the Superfriends broke bread together, sharing laughter and smiles and stories. Already, Eliza, J'onn and Alura had playfully been discussing some of Kara's sisterly antics with Alex, including an old joke Kara used to always make at Alex's expense, calling her a lazy bum just because she did not possess the same miraculous powers Kara did. Kara would always jokingly call Alex a lazy bum because in the time it took Alex to arrest one criminal, Kara could catch five. Though both sisters knew that this joke was made in good heart and it brought a bittersweet smile on Alex's face to hear it being told once again.

Once the last pizza had been finished, although the Superfriends had already shifted a very large quantity of food, sly glances were exchanged before the entire table stood up to order even more food. One just could not get enough of Universe Food! Next came the burgers and meat pies. Alex and Maggie grabbed two 10th Anniversary Burgers while Superman and Lois grabbed five. Lucy and James chose four of the Xtremely Delicious Burgers while Eliza, Alura and J'onn grabbed seven. Cat and Dimitri chose two of the originals and the Nals all got some of the Double Meat burgers. Even Winn found it within himself to grab a few burgers and meat pies. As despairing as he was, moments like this made all of the suffering a little bit less.

"What could be better?" he asked as he gnawed on his burger. "Good food and good company!" and everyone was quick to agree, all of them secretly pleased to see how happy Winn was looking today.

By the end of that lunch-turned-early-dinner at Universe Food, all of the Superfriends were laughing and smiling again. Their hearts and stomachs were beyond full and there were countless burger wrappers, meat pie bowls and pizza boxes everywhere. Although today was a day of suffering, grief and loss, it was also a day of hope, comradery and remembrance. Nia and her sister and father were eagerly listening to Winn and James talk about some of Supergirl's more daring adventures while Alex, J'onn and Maggie listened to Alura and Eliza recount silly tales of Kara's youth, retelling some of the other old jokes she used to make and pranks she used to pull. As goody-goody as Kara was, she certainly had a playful and prankster side as well!

Alura's stories were the most bittersweet of all. Alura was still hating herself for not realizing that her daughter was alive and well before she went missing and she wished that she could've traveled to Earth 38 sooner. The opportunity had presented itself before, but because she didn't even know that Kara was there, she never thought to stop by. Now, though, she wished that she had. But it was too late for all that now. All Alura could do now was to try and honor her daughter's memory, by protecting the family that her daughter left behind and trying to solve the mystery of where all the kidnapped aliens were going.

But as hard as Alura and all the rest of the Superfriends tried, the answer to the riddle remained infuriatingly unclear. But the man who orchestrated it all was all too knowledgeable about the true extent of the horrific truth, and nothing filled him with more glee. As he dined on Universe Food menu items with all of his fellow inmates, he laughed maniacally to himself. Even though he could not see them, he knew that Lenny and his mother, Lillian, were doing the same. Because Lillian was now in on the secret about the truth behind Universe Food, she also helped run the company alongside Lenny. Lenny might've been the face of Universe Food, but the Luthors were the brains.

Lillian was cunning enough that she was able to help Lenny run the company while also controlling Cadmus and having them help supply the burger joint with its alien meat. Even if the rest of Cadmus was in the dark about why their leader constantly fed them Universe Food, they obeyed her orders without question and if it was kidnapped aliens she wanted, it was kidnapped aliens she would get. If only they knew where those kidnapped aliens were being taken too after being abducted…

"Good food and good company," Lex hummed as his shifty eyes darted around the prison cafeteria. In his heart, he knew that, miles away, Lenny and Lillian were doing the same thing. "Could it get any better than this?" he asked, and as he said this, he took another big bite into his pizza slice, made from freshly ground Starhavenite. He could almost see it now, his ghastly machinery working to tear her limb from limb, compressing all of her body into one perfect pizza. It was delicious! And best of all, it was still happening, over and over…

Countless Lyra clones descending to a fiery and painful death, their tombs being pizza boxes for all time. It was so disgusting, horrific and shameful that it made Lex smile with glee. So that Lyra was in very good company as well, surrounded by thousands of other clones, each of them dying every second or two. And soon, she would be in even better food, freshly ground, chopped Starhavenite meat being cooked into a warm, sizzling pizza, topped with the finest ingredients that the world could offer! It was absolutely delicious!


	25. Chapter 19: Projected Trajectory

While two Luthors reveled in their sick triumph regarding Universe Food, the third unwittingly sung the cruel company's praises. Once again, although Lena had never planned on becoming a spokesperson for a burger company, of all things, life had a very funny way of changing on her, and here she sat now, at a press conference taste-testing the 10th anniversary specials.

"Ms. Luthor!" a Universe Food representative brought a plate of lasagna to Lena and her board of directors. She smiled politely up at him.

"Thank you!" she said as she took the plate from him, and the rest of her board echoed her gratitude as they, too, received their meals. Once the food was all handed out, she addressed her board.

"While I know this is rather… unusual for my company, to say the least," she began, chuckly dryly as she spoke, "I have decided that we will assess our annual earning for this year and see how it compares to the last few. To kill two birds with one stone, we will also be eating Universe Food today. Do you think you all are up for the job of multitasking?"

"Yes, Ms. Luthor," came roughly 20 voices in response as forks and pens were raised, all present parties ready to eat and take notes. It really was a very odd board meeting, nothing like any of them had ever seen before, but because Lena really didn't want to waste too much time doting upon Universe Food during a working day, she had decided to combine her annual budgetary meeting with the Universe Food taste test. It was unorthodox, to say the least, but it worked!

"Mmm! This Lasagna has five different layers of meat!" someone murmured appreciatively as she dug into her spread.

"It's Grade-A stuff!" someone else agreed. "All five of the meats are sooooo good!"

"I wonder what animals the meat came from?" someone else mused.

"Well, wherever it's from, it's really delicious!" a third replied happily. "We may not know the secret recipe, but it's no secret that this food is the very best in the entire universe!"

"It's so cheap and simple, yet so delicious and wonderful!" a fourth hummed.

"This is easily becoming my Favorite dinner and lasagna of all time!" a fifth nodded.

But in between the meal, the board of direction did manage to actually discuss their quarterly earnings and progress. Samatha Arias, Lena's closest friend, coworker and business partner, was the first to list off her findings for L-Corp's current sales.

"It's been our best quarter yet!" she declared as she showed off the charts and graphs of her data. The company had not seen such beautiful numbers since before Kara Danvers went missing over a decade ago, back when Lena had nearly plunged the company into bankruptcy in her desperation to find her missing best friend. Although L-Corp had managed to bounce back from that near bankruptcy very well, this was the first time since before that year where L-Corp was soaring through and over the projected trajectories and sales.

"Excellent!" Lena smiled in satisfaction as she surveyed the numbers herself. But as focused as she was on the quarterly assessment, no one missed the way her fork continually moved up towards her mouth. She was enjoying her impromptu lasagna lunch just as much as anyone else in the meeting was. It was just so warm and juicy! The cheese was nice and melty, the noodles were warm and soft and the meat was very tangy and flavorful! The Luthor ate forkful after forkful until the very last bite had been eaten up.

"This lasagna is beyond delicious!" someone cried as the meeting came to a close about an hour later.

"And it's made even better by all the delicious sauces!" someone else agreed. But that wasn't the end of things for the board of directors. Following the lasagna, a few pizzas were brought in and everyone had a slice. The company ordered two large thin-crust 10th anniversary cheese pizzas with original and white meat.

"Interesting!" Lena murmured as she ate her slice. "It tastes good even though there are only two meats on it and they go very well together!"

"I wonder where it came from," the same person from before mused, inspecting a piece of the original meat closely. It looked like sausage but smelled like pepperoni, though the person in question was sure that it was not either of those. How odd! What could it be? But just like with before, no one thought to question it too hard. Why bother? It was good food, wasn't it? So the group forced themselves to be content with their lot, not that that was too hard, and they continued to dine on their pizza.

After the pizza was devoured, Lena formally ended the meeting and the day resumed as normal, but not before the Universe Food representative got a few good quotes from the Luthor to take back home to his boss. So in that, Lena was unwittingly used as a pawn for the company, pushing its insidious agenda even further, although she had no clue about this at all. As such, the already-giant burger joint grew even bigger as the youngest Luthor helped to sing its praises to and for the rest of the universe to hear.

Thanks to Lena's influence, as well as several other partners of Universe Food, it didn't take long for the company to break new records in the wake of their 10th anniversary. They, like L-Corp, were hitting and surpassing the projected trajectory for the company. They hit several trillion sales predicting a few hundred billion more in the coming year and new locations were springing up in every part of every known universe. There were officially a million locations on Earth 38, its origin point, and a few hundred thousand everywhere else. And some of those locations actually used to belong to old fast food empires like McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Big Belly Burger and more. All of those other companies had long since crumbled, Universe Food reigning supreme and buying up the companies it did not run bankrupt. McDonald's and the like were things of the past now. Universe Food was all that remained…

Earth 1 was just one example of just how far Universe Food's reach had spread. Several of Barry Allen's female friends were having a sleepover at Thea Queen's home and, as one might've expected, Universe Food was what was on the menu for that night. Caitlin Snow was eating an original burger, Iris West had a 10th anniversary special, Cecille Horton had a Fire Burger, Nora Allen had a BBQ burger, Felicity Smoak and Dinah Drake both had a Double-Meat, Helena Bertinelli, Laurel Lance and Thea Queen herself were all splitting a Meat Lover pizza, Sara Lance had an Original Meat Pie, Zari Tomaz had a Double Meat Meat Pie, Mona Wu, Kate Kane, Sophie Moore and Claire Clover were all eating lasagnas, Cassandra Cain and Barbra Gordon were both eating a Triple Meat patty, and Julia Pennyworth and Selina Kyle were both sharing a 10th anniversary pizza. Despite the diverse menu, the general consensus remained the same: that it was the best spread any of them had ever eaten. Universe Food had never failed them before and it seemed like that record was going to carry on even beyond their 10th anniversary. At the rate things were going, things could only get even better for the megacorporation that was Universe Food.

Six months later, even more old things were crushed by Universe Food's relentless expansion. This time, however, those things weren't old fast food joints, they were four more aliens. It had been a normal day at the DEO when the alarm was sounded.

"Four more aliens have just been reported missing around same time as Lyra!" came the alert. These aliens consisted of a male Adaptiod, a male Aellon, a female from a lesser known race and a female Aloi. They were all approximately college aged. Unchecked outrage swept through the DEO like wildfire as the word spread fast about the latest kidnapping. Everyone talked about it and all hands were on deck as more mass-investigations were held in light of these latest missing reports.

Alex, J'onn, James, Winn, Brainy, Maggie, Lena and Nia, among countless other DEO agents, were quick to arrive on the scene, each and every individual using all of their resources and special skill to try and catch the culprits this time around. Of course, aliens kidnappings had been on the rise ever since Supergirl went missing a decade ago, but these random bursts when several aliens would go missing all at once were relatively rare. They only happened once every year or two. This was not a good thing, of course, but that just meant that whenever there was a mass-kidnapping, the DEO paid a little bit more attention. There was a very clear pattern, it was just that no one could figure out who was behind it all. They knew it was no ordinary hate crime or ransom plot, but they still could not understand what the endgame of all the kidnapping was.

"These latest few are all of different species, backgrounds and statuses," someone muttered. "Aside from the age, all four of them were totally different!" as he and several others continued to pour over the facts, no clear connections were made. It just seemed so random, yet it was so obviously-planned and carefully executed that there was no way that the kidnappings were entirely random. There had to be some pattern behind it all. But what?! All different aliens, all different places and times, but all within the same window of time, and all about the same age. But why? What was the pattern? Because there had to be one! The mass-kidnappings were too sophisticated and cunning to be unrelated and arbitrary. But what was the connection point?!

"Is it some sort of personal vendetta?" Winn demanded, clenching his fists in anger and grief. Even though Lyra had gone missing half a year ago, it was still clear that her disappearance was a fresh wound for him, reopened even further in light of these most recent disappearances. He was frantically trying to find a connection between her and the four others, but he could think of nothing.

"Unless they were taken as hostages to make it easy to keep Lyra contained," Lena suggested. As she studied the missing aliens of the past year, Lyra was the odd one out, the only non-student.

"Or maybe the students were the real target and Lyra was kidnapped in order to keep us distracted or deterred. Or maybe she witnessed a kidnapping and then she tried to stop it only to be knocked out instead," Brainy replied. Lyra was the only non-student to be kidnapped in recent times, but why? Did it mean anything? Was that detail planned and important? Or was it only a mistake or red herring to keep them all distracted on unimportant or unintentional details?

"But do you think they were taken as hostages, or victims?" Maggie asked next. It was a grim question, but she had a point. In the past 10 years, no alien had ever survived one of these mysterious kidnappings. But it was a question no one had the answer to. No one knew what the pattern was except this: that these kidnappings were habitual. The only visible pattern was that the kidnappings were recurring.

And with that knowledge, the DEO could only bow its collective head in fear and surrender, knowing without a doubt that more kidnappings were likely to occur in the future, unless they could somehow reverse this sick and twisted projected trajectory and find out the truth before it was too late…


	26. Chapter 20: Reopened Wounds

Date: August 2 2027

50,000 alien residents of Earth finally grew angry enough to stand up and start protesting right outside the DEO, demanding to know where all of the missing aliens were. They were beyond upset and were rallying together to finally demand some real, straight answers from the DEO, hungry to know where Supergirl was and if the rumors about more alien kidnappings were true.

Although the DEO was a mostly secret organization, especially in light of all of the kidnappings over the past few years, more and more aliens began to hear whispers about who they were and what they did. Word of mouth spread across the country until a nice chunk of American aliens knew where and what the DEO was.

They knew that the organization had been close to Supergirl back when she was still around and they knew that the organization had quite a hand in alien activity, both on and off Earth. As such, with the most recent kidnappings having occurred, some of the aliens aware of the DEO's presence had finally decided to stand up and demand some real answers. That latest kidnapping had led to some reopened wounds and, this time, they weren't going to close up quietly.

"Why are these aliens being kidnapped?! Why are you not protecting us from these hate groups?! Why are we being kidnapped left and right and why have none of the victims ever been seen again?!" the angry crowd demanded, screaming and waving signs right outside the DEO. "We want justice!"

Unable to hide any longer, then, the DEO finally agreed to release a public statement. A week later, then, on August 9, the DEO released a formal press statement that Supergirl (and all of the other aliens across the past decade or so) had all been kidnapped in roughly the same manner. Even though the DEO had yet to crack the code on what was going on and who was responsible, they finally confessed that the kidnappings were not random, but instead, carefully organized and orchestrated attacks.

"They are most likely the work of some hate group," J'onn said in the press conference. Boos and hisses of outrage and disgust filled the air, but J'onn only squared his shoulders and soldiered on. "We have yet to know what group is responsible, but the patterns and clues that we have observed are clear: all of these attacks are intertwined, linked in some way. We may not yet know what the connection point is, but we know that it exists!" he declared, and then, with a pained nod, he confirmed another question they were all dying to know.

"And yes," he said. "Supergirl was a part of that connection…" more boos, hisses and outraged shouting. "As were all of the other aliens that disappeared after her, including the four university students and Ms. Lyra Stryad-Schott…" J'onn bowed his head in grief while the discontented chatter continued on from the crowd below. They were outraged to hear about all of this, and to hear about how in the dark the DEO still was, but what could they do? Humans and aliens alike could only bite their tongues in anger and anguish as J'onn finally confessed everything, bring more reopened wounds as old friends and fallen heroes were mourned again.

A funeral had already been held for Supergirl long ago, but in light of all of this new information, a second one was held, and this time, her name was honored beside all of the other kidnap-victims of the past decade. It was one larger, combined funeral for all of those who had been taken by this mysterious organization, and humans and aliens alike attended. It received just as much press coverage as J'onn's press conference had been and, pretty soon, the entire galaxy knew the story. Starting from Cat Co and spreading out, the story spread like wildfire through the Earth and stars.

But in that day of mourning and remembrance, there was one man who looked delighted to watch the funeral. This, of course, was Lex Luthor, watching from the tiny TV in prison.

"Another funeral, how disgustingly sentimental," he remarked to no one as he watched the footage of J'onn kneeling at Supergirl's grave. It was a gorgeous, glorious monument, beautiful, powerful and inspiring, but today, there was nothing but sorrow as the entire city bunched around it, grieving not just Supergirl, but all of the other aliens who had shared her bitter fate.

That was when Lex's cruel and eerie grin turned into a look of outrage, disgust, and even a bit of envy.

"I can't believe it!" he snarled to himself, pounding on the bars of his cell just so he had something to hit. "I kill the Kryptonian and the world still looks up to her with big, glassy eyes! Don't they see what I have freed them from? Don't they see that I am cleansing this Earth and making it pure and whole and self-sufficient again?! How can mankind have become so fat and soft and stupid that it still relies on and grieves for fallen alien heroes for salvation?!"

For the rest of the secondary, honorary funeral, Lex continued to rage and rant, clearly angered by all the attention the Girl of Steel was still getting even a decade after her death. Nothing made him angrier or more jealous than being second to a Kryptonian and he hated being reminded of that fact. It really did enrage him beyond belief that stupid little Kara Danvers should still hold so much clout over them all even after being gone for so long. In Lex's mind, she didn't deserve a since iota of their attention, and the vast displays of grief that the people of National City disgusted him beyond belief. All of it was hurting his massive ego and it was causing more reopened wounds for him.

Suddenly, another wave of madness washed over Lex Luthor and he became unreasonably angry against the fallen Girl of Steel. Even though she was long dead, Lex felt as if an old wound had been ripped open again, that funeral acting as a burning reminder of the fact that even in death, she was somehow still more important and memorable to the world than anything or anyone else was. Lex began to grind his teeth in anger as he continued to watch person after person kneel before Supergirl's grave, like she was some sort of goddess.

"Damn you, Supergirl!" Lex snarled. "You false god! You sinful witch! How can it be that even after all this time you still ensnare and enslave the world so? How have you bewitched mankind so much that it still falls to its knees for you even after you have been destroyed? Are you really so arrogant that you believe yourself a god?!" Lex continued to yell at the Kryptonian as the funeral carried on long into the night. Lex's grudge had been reopened and his triumph had been soured. With the flame of rage and hatred rekindled in his dark heart, Lex suddenly wanted another victory against the Girl of Steel. He wanted to fight, kill and triumph over her again just to show her that she really would never defeat him, even after death. He would always come out on top no matter how many times or ways he had to destroy her.

"You think you can defeat me?!" he bellowed. "Me?! The most powerful man in the UNIVERSE?!" and Lex suddenly engaged in an all-out screaming match with himself as he made furious promises to crush Supergirl under his heel again and again and again until even her memory was nothing but ash and dust beneath his foot. He would triumph over her again until even her memory was gone, totally erased from the world and finally rendered down to the meaningless jumble of syllables that it had always been. He would crush Supergirl again, defeat her all over again, and he would still come out on top! He would not be the only one with reopened wounds by the time all of this was over!

"But after this time, no one will ever say your name again!" he promised as he seethed up at the TV screen, almost foaming at the mouth as the footage of Supergirl's second funeral finally shut off. Lex wasted no time after that, then, in setting up his next grandmaster plan…

Two weeks later, practically every school in the universe (from elementary all the way to university and beyond) had been coerced or seduced into some sort of bargain deal with Universe Food that they would sell some UF menu items in their schools. Universe Food launched an entire line of new menu items and made sure that every school in the universe sold their products in some way, shape or form. There were burgers, meat pies, pizzas, lasagnas and more. The company even began to work in pasta. There was now meatballs and penne pasta with, of course, Universe Food meat sauces.

But Lex's second grudge against Supergirl didn't just end there, with a new line of foods created just so he had an excuse to kill even more of her clones. Instead, Lex also took the fight back into the slaughterhouse itself, upgrading the cloning machines such that the clones could be forced to say degrading things that they didn't really believe, forced to speak about their own demises happily and obediently. Now, every clone that came out of the machine seemed to nod in agreement with its upcoming fate.

"I am meat to be eaten as food, just like cows, chicken and fish," the first clone droned.

"I am meat to be eaten as food, just like cows, chicken and fish," the second agreed.

"I am meat to be eaten as food, just like cows, chicken and fish," the third repeated. And in an endless loop, it carried on. Although the clones still suffered gruesome and agonizing deaths, at least for the first half of their trip through the slaughterhouse, they would chant about their demise, slavishly echoing over and over again that they were all nothing more than cattle, than livestock, to be slaughtered and eaten at the whim of humanity. They were like soulless monsters, incapable of saying or doing anything else, just staring straight on ahead down the hellish contraption they were stuck to, endlessly repeating that they were subhuman, and deserved to be consumed, because they were worthy of nothing else. It was a very cruel, degrading thing to force the clones to say and do, but to Lex, that was half the fun.

"Yes!" he hissed through the prison phone as, once again, Lenny, on the other side of the line, held it out for his boss to hear the sound of his latest and greatest achievement. Lenny had to admit that this decision to upgrade the cloning machines had seemed a bit silly, random and pointless to him, but he wasn't stupid enough to tell Lex that to his face. Instead, he had only added the upgrades Lex requested and let the maniac revel in it once the work was done.

But Lex wasn't done there. Out of insanity and cruelty both, he had all the other cloning machines upgraded too, each alien forced to same some new and sickeningly creative line about what delicious food they were going to become, and how they were dirty rotten subhumans who deserved nothing else except their graphic and gruesome fate to become literal burger meat. For example, Lyra's machine forced all of her clones to say, "I taste delicious, and I am nothing more than delicious meat to be eaten and consumed at the whims of humanity." And one of the other clones was given the line, "I am to be served as food for humans, and all other aliens are also to be served to humanity, for it is all we deserve…"

"Yes it is!" Lex agreed darkly as he continued to listen to the droning chants all of the clones were now forced to speak before being brutally burned alive or cut wide open. While Lenny held out the phone towards the slaughterhouse, Lex muffled a maniacal laugh.

"All of you pathetic little invaders deserve nothing more than to be slaughtered and devoured, for if you dare to set foot on our planet and claim it as your own, you owe us a great debt and this is EXACTLY how you will pay it! The entire world will consume you, devour you whole, eating your flesh down to the bone as you become nothing more than common dinner plates. Burgers, meat pies, pasta, pizza! All of it! That is all any of you will ever become! And you will be crushed by the teeth of mankind!"

Not long after that, Universe Food announced a new line of chili. As with all of their other dishes, it was a smashing success across the universe.


	27. Chapter 21: Sweet Dreams

Date: Spring 2034-July 2034

15 years after Supergirl went missing, the president of the USA finally released a statement threatening to close the DEO by the end of her 2th term if no results on the kidnap victims were yielded.

"Although the DEO has long since been an invaluable organization to our country, keeping rogue aliens in check, it seems as if its efficacy has decreased over the last decade and a half and I am afraid that if this decline in progress and completed assignments continues, I will issue an executive order to have this entire system shut down," she told J'onn. "You've been incompetent ever since you first failed to find Supergirl and if you don't find anything soon, I will disband the DEO within three years!" she finished, then she walked out without another word, leaving a brokenhearted and anxious J'onn in her wake…

The worst, however, was yet to come. On July 4th of that year, 5 aliens had gone to a local fireworks show and none of them ever came home again. One was of an unknown race, one was a male Bgztlian, one was a female Carggite, one was a male Colunan and one was a female human-Naltorian hybrid, Nia. She thought that she would be safe, going out with some of her stronger friends, but she was proven terribly wrong on the cab ride home. Even though she, herself, was no pushover, and even though she had four other strong aliens with her, all five of them were quickly subdued and kidnapped by the driver.

He did it all in secrecy, filling up the cab with a gas that knocked out aliens but left humans alone. Because Nia was a hybrid, the gas took the longest to affect her, but even though she stayed awake the longest, even she finally succumbed to the noxious powers of the gas and slipped away into the world of the unconscious, following her four friends into oblivion…

Nia woke up early the next morning to find herself locked in a strange machine. The sides were made of steel, but the front was made of glass. She peered out the glass and could make out a conveyor belt stretching out on the ground in front of her. Hanging over that belt was a sign that read: "Pie Crust and Filling, Gelatin".

"What the-?" the young hybrid murmured in confusion, narrowing her eyes as she tried to understand. That was when two familiar faces emerged from behind her. It was Cassie and Chloe Chan, friends of Nia's.

"Chloe! Cassie!" Nia cried out to them as they came into her line of sight. "What are you-?"

"Hello, Nia. Welcome to slaughterhouse!" Chloe interrupted her cheerfully.

"Slaughterhouse?" Nia echoed in disbelief, eyes widening.

"For animals like you to be eaten as food via largest fast food chain that has ever existed! Universe Food!" Cassie nodded, grinning sickly up at her imprisoned "friend".

"You're about to be the first ever dessert for the company. You should be proud!" Chloe mocked Nia. "It's a dream come true! A sweet dream, that is!" she cackled.

"WHAT?!" Nia screeched. "What the heck is going on here?! Why are there Universe Food logos on this machine?!" growing frightened, the young Dreamer began to lash out, raging against her imprisonment. She tried to summon up her powers just to blast free, but nothing came of it. "What?!"

"While you were sleeping, we removed your powers. Now, no one will ever be able to save you, or even find you! Including you!" Cassie sing-songed as Nia started to look frantic. This had to be a bad dream! Right?

"To answer your question," Chloe interrupted. "You are about to be cooked alive, and your body will serve as food that Universe Food will sell to hungry, paying customers. But you will not be alone in this. Instead, the machine you are standing in now is a cloning machine. For the rest of time, you will be cloned over and over again so that you may die in an endless round. You, dear, sweet Nia, are going to be a chocolate-cream covered dessert pie!"

"What? No! Are you mad?! I am not meat to be eaten! I am a living, sentient being, just like you two! I am not an animal! I thought you guys were my friends! I thought you were pro-alien!" Nia began to howl.

"Thought," the two sisters snickered cruelly in response. They did not elaborate further, but they didn't need to. What had happened was obvious. Betrayal. The two sisters, regardless of whether or not they had ever truly been Nia's friends and supporters, did not matter. What mattered was that they had informed the men working behind this twisted organization about the National City fireworks show, and they had also informed them that Nia and four others would be attending together.

Since the sisters were friends of Nia, Nia had no suspicions when they had asked her about the fireworks show and how long she'd be there and when she'd leave. Back then, Nia assumed it was only simple curiosity that drove these questions. Now she knew better. It was so that they would know when the best time to kidnap Nia and her other alien friends would be. Well, Nia walked right into that trap and the plan went off perfectly. Nia and the others had been taken not by a random evil cab driver, but by a well-timed one that had intentionally been sent to pick them up, instructed by Lenny Thorul himself to do this horrible, terrible deed.

"But how can you do this to me?!" Nia demanded, shrieking with despair. "I'm not even a full alien! I am 50% human!" she did not mean to use her hybrid status as a get-out-of-jail-free card, but she just couldn't fathom why her two "friends" would betray her on the grounds that she was an alien. It was no secret that she was still also half human. And she had been born and raised on Earth, so it wasn't like she had come from a different planet. Nia just could not understand why her "friends" were betraying her like this.

"But you are still also half alien, and half is enough for us," Chloe replied cruelly. "We have proof of you being of an alien race. We know you are half Naltorian. We used to be pro-alien, but after we found out that you had been lying to us for how many years on end, we decided that we cannot trust any of the likes of you. Regardless of how much alien DNA you have, the point is that you lied to us from Day One and if you think that we're going to let such an enormous deception just slide, you couldn't be more wrong!" she finished, crossing her arms as she glared up at the hybrid. The hybrid stared back down at her, broken and pleading.

Right before she could speak, however, who should show up but Lenny and Lex themselves? Once again, even though Lex spent most of his time in jail, he could occasionally bribe the guard to let him out from time to time. Today was one of those times. And he had asked specifically for this day off because he wanted to see his first-ever dessert being made. He was also keen on meeting a human-alien hybrid. Those were rare creatures and even though he found them even more vile than regular aliens, he was still hungry (pun intended) to meet one. He wanted to know if being a hybrid meant that she would taste different as a food product, or if she would require some sort of different cooking technique.

"You'll taste delicious, my dear," Lex hissed sickly at her as he drew near. "You will be adored by both of your kinds. Both halves of you will unite and love you just the same! I can see it now: humans and aliens alike, dining on your remains, and oh how they will love you! You! My dear Dreamer! You shall be the sweetest treat of them all! A literal Sweet Dream!" the Luthor cackled madly and made a dramatic gesture before shooting a look at Lenny. Lenny understood and nodded back before hitting a button on the side of the machine Nia was standing in. The process was starting…

Nia only had time to open her mouth in one final scream of despair before she was suddenly being forced through the cloning process. The glass door swung open, then, and she was forced on down the conveyor belt, towards a very gruesome fate indeed…

Since she was to be made into a dessert, her death was different from the other aliens in the slaughterhouse and it definitely fell under the term "cruel and unusual". For starters, the very first thing that happened to her was that she was shoved into a large, pool-shaped area. The walls were made out of dough. She was literally being shoved into a pie crust. Then she was doused in a sticky chocolate coating. From head to toe, chocolate was poured over her until she was so drenched that she practically began to drown, choking and gasping for air as she found herself unable to breathe because of all of the melted chocolate being poured all over her. But the worst came last.

After Nia had been shoved into the giant pie crust and nearly drowned in melted chocolate, she was shoved into a giant oven and was slowly cooked to death. The heat was intense and the chocolate melted off and into her skin. Hotter and higher the flames rose around the pie while Nia slowly suffocated and burned to death while trapped inside.

"Ahhh, sweet dreams are made of this!" Lex joked serenely as he watched the oven that was cooking Nia alive. The others with him watched with similar expressions of monstrous amusement.

An hour later, then, the pie was done. Lex, Lenny and the two backstabbing sisters were the first ones to try it, enjoying it with a few other Cadmus friends at the anti-alien bar at the edge of National City where the entire mess had started so very long ago…

While Nia met her grisly, ghastly demise in the slaughterhouse closer to National City, her four companions found themselves in one of the smaller ones in South America. Although the slaughterhouse by National City was the biggest of all, and considered the heart of the entire operation, for the sake of ease and effectiveness, Lex had several other, smaller ones built across the universe. They were nowhere near as big or terrifying, but the deeds that went on in them were no less graphic than the big one by National City.

Nia's companions woke up in the same predicament she had been in: naked and stuck in a cloning machine. As one might've expected, they panicked. They thrashed around wildly in their chambers, trying to escape, or at least to understand. But it was of no use. The glass was too strong. And it was so thick they couldn't hear one another even if they were shouting as loud as they could. Since Lenny and Lex were back at the main slaughterhouse, all that greeted these four poor lost souls were machines. The slaughterhouses were designed such that they could be operated entirely by machine. Lex had done this to minimize the number of workers he needed and to minimize the number of people who knew about the slaughterhouses' existences.

With that sort of system set into place, after a few minutes of panicking, the slaughterhouse suddenly came alive. The four struggling aliens were forced to be cloned and then the doors to their chambers were opened, but barely even a quarter of a second later, they were trapped again, this time stuck in the cruel and iron grip of various metal claws and meathooks dangling from the slaughterhouse's ceiling. Then, one by one, they were all dragged down a long and bloody road of death, cut and skinned and peeled apart, cooked and preserved before all of their parts and pieces were stuffed into packages that would be shipped across the country!

Once Nia's disappearance was reported (roughly four days after it happened) the entirety of National City went into an uproarious uprising again. Anger and tensions skyrocketed after Nia's family reported that she never came home after the fireworks show. Brainy went on a literal mental lockdown in despair and anguish, shutting down. It was like he had accidentally overwhelmed himself so much that, in order to save his life, his body put itself into hypersleep. Everyone who knew decided to let him remain that way just so he didn't have to deal with the trauma of having lost the girl he loved more than anything or anyone else.

The rest of the city, however, was not able to escape so easily. Instead, while Nia's family grieved and raged, the rest of the city continued to spit on the DEO, their outraged demands for the organization to do something growing louder and louder every second. The DEO could only take it all in stride, struggling to hold off the angry mob outside while also trying to find Nia and the other missing aliens without losing their minds to the stress and grief of all of it.

"Do you think we'll be able to find anything?" Alex asked brokenly.

"I don't know," J'onn replied, sounding just as emotionless and hopeless. Beside them, Winn and James were working in silence, too defeated and horrified by the news to reveal anything other than an eerily cold and unreactive apathy. Tucked away safely in the far corner of the DEO was Brainy, or rather, his body. But his mind was somewhere very far away now. He was so locked into sleep that his mind was no longer in the present time or place. No one knew where it had gone. Even Brainy himself. He was no longer there. But then again, neither was anyone else.


	28. Chapter 22: Planning For The Future

Date:

In the months following the infamous July 4th kidnapping, the DEO continued to receive bad PR from humans and aliens alike. Meanwhile, the Nal family was still lost in deep mourning for Nia. At one point, Universe Food sent a package right to their doorstep, containing several of the new "Sweet Dreams" chocolate pies. They claimed it was in honor of the Nal's lost family member and the remaining Nals took the mourning gift gratefully. They found it a bit odd, but how could they turn down such an offer?

"Nia would've loved this," Maeve murmured regretfully as she ate her chocolate pie. Good as it was, though, she was far too sad to really enjoy it, and the crust almost tasted like sawdust to her. All she could focus on was her sister, and the fact that the two of them would never see or speak to one another again. Sure, the two had had fallouts in the past, but even Maeve was not cruel enough to celebrate her sister's death. Instead, it became her biggest regret that the two hadn't been on friendlier terms before Nia was kidnapped.

Paul, meanwhile, said nothing, but the look on his face said it all. It was clear that he felt the exact same way Maeve did, just as lost, broken and guilty that he had lost one of his family. He, too, ate the chocolate pie with a hollow expression, hardly even seeming to be aware of it as he ate bite after bite after bite. Nia really would have loved this. She always had quite the sweet tooth! If only she could've still been there to enjoy it… But she wasn't. And she never would be again. So soon, Paul was going to have to start planning for the future and figuring out how he and Maeve were going to get through this. He was certain that they would, but not without a lot of time and effort. But where to begin?

While the surviving Nals remained on Earth to grieve their fallen loved one, the rest of the Superfriends took to the stars, going so far as to visit Argos. Part of the reason was to mourn Nia, part of the reason was to escape the chaos on Earth (remember, the DEO wasn't exactly popular at the moment) and part of it was to visit the other Superfriends who already took permanent residence in the stars above. This small number included Superman, Lois and Alura.

Led by Brainy, who had finally woken up from his accidental and self-imposed coma, the band took to the stars and traveled out to Argos. They went to the place where Alura lived. It looked like something between a mansion and a regular old suburban house. The large band of guests went inside to find her cooking up a special, homemade meal. Even though there were plenty of Universe Foods on Argos, she wanted to give them something special and homemade and a bit more… unique, than just burgers. Though she did purchase a bunch of the new chocolate cream pies for dessert.

Superman and Lois joined the others very shortly after and soon, the house was packed. James, J'onn, Eliza, Alex, Maggie, Winn, Cat, M'gann, Dimitri, Brainy and Lucy were all in attendance. There, they reminisced on all of their fallen friends, starting from Kara and going on through Lyra all the way up to Nia. Pictures, memories, stories, laughter and tears were shared in the large pack and some of Kara's Earth-friends finally really got to take a look into what her space life looked like. Alura had, after all, kept a few recordings from when Kara had been a little one, and the pack of Superfriends watched in love and sadness as little Kara darted back and forth across the screen, coming to life again before their very eyes, even if only for a while.

"She was so cute as a kid, wasn't she?" Eliza murmured softly, sadly.

"She was," Alura agreed, choking up a little. Between them was Alex, and she was in silent tears, shoulders shaking as she watched what her sister had looked like before her home planet was destroyed. It was only the feeling of Maggie's arm wrapped around her shoulder that kept her from totally going to pieces. Once the little trip down memory lane was done, then, the group returned to have dessert. They all knew what a sweet tooth Kara had and they knew she would've absolutely adored the chocolate cream pies of Universe Food. That was why Alura had purchased them.

"She would've considered them to die for," the older Kryptonian woman said. "So tonight, we dine on them in her honor!" it might've sounded like a silly thing to say, but everyone else agreed and dug right into the pies, silently praying for Kara in their minds as they did so. James and Lucy shared a pie while Eliza and Alura shared several. Alex and Maggie had a few while J'onn and M'gann, between the two of them, devoured 10. Winn had a couple, Cat and Dimitri had a couple and Lois managed to eat a few as well. Brainy and Superman, between the two of them, ate almost 20. Superman seemed to have been "blessed" with the same appetite Kara had and Brainy, himself, was quite hungry after having slept several months of his life away. Even though he was part machine and had been well-cared for while in a coma, he was not immune to the allure of food.

But once the meal was done, it was time to start planning for the future. The Superfriends decided to stay on Argos for a week or two before finally heading back home to Earth.

"It was lovely to see you all again," Alura told them as they prepared to go.

"You too," they all replied.

"We look forward to your next visit," Superman agreed, and similar pleasantries were exchanged as plans were made for a future meetup, and what would happen once everyone made it back to Earth.

"We've got quite a mess to clean up when we get home," J'onn warned the crew as he flew them home.

"But we'll be ready for it," Winn and James tried to sound confident. It worked and the others agreed.

"We will triumph over any tribulation that should seek to befall us," Brainy agreed, looking much stronger and happier than he had since before Nia died.

"And we've got Superman and Alura's support," Alex agreed. "That is invaluable!"

"So come on! Let's get on home already! Real heroes don't run and hide from anything!" Cat agreed.

"Supergirl certainly wouldn't have!" Maggie nodded at the older reporter, and the rest of the Superfriends spent the rest of the trip home, planning for the future. It was going to be a long and hard road, both to recovery and the truth, but they were ready for it!

But while the Superfriends and Nals ate their food in mourning, the Luthors ate theirs in celebration. Sam Lane and his wife hosted something of an anti-alien party with the Luthors, Graves, Lenny and Eve. They also invited some of the workers who had been at the bar on the night Kara was kidnapped (Lisa, Scott, Donald, Christine, Kyle, Cianci, Hillary and Michelle) and some of these workers were extended and, or honorary Luthor family members. It was a party for the ages, but not at all in a good way.

The entire twisted clan dined on white meat potstickers, double- and triple-layer lasagna, and, of course, their latest dish: the chocolate cream pies.

"My dear friends!" Lex stood up from the head of the table. "I have not just hosted this party as a celebration of you and a sign of my gratitude for all of your loyal and tireless efforts on my behalf, nor have I thrown it merely to celebrate the success of Universe Food and their new line of delicious desserts!" he paused for laughter as he gave a mocking wave to the mountain of chocolate pies sitting on the end of the table. "Rather, I have brought you all here tonight so that we may start planning for the future! I am the Man of Tomorrow, after all," he added with a prideful grin, looking quite proud of himself as he spoke those last few words, though in this case, they were entirely ironic. Meanwhile, everyone else at the party looked intrigued by Lex's proposition. Planning for the future? What did the Man of Tomorrow have in mind now?

"You see, as incompetent as the DEO has proven itself," Lex began, pausing as a few harsh snickers filled the air in response to his words. "I still do not wish to take any unnecessary risks! Because of that, I have issued a shut-down of the bar where Kara Danvers was first kidnapped. Although I know it all happened over a decade ago, I will leave no stone unturned. Even the tiniest of clues that may be traced back and used against me must be destroyed completely, and that bar is no exception!"

Lex was suddenly met with discontented and unhappy moans. That bar had been the livelihood of half of his guests tonight. What were they going to do now that Lex had put them all out of business? But Lex only calmly raised his hands again for silence before continuing in his explanation.

"Because I have been the one to cause the shutdown of this bar, I will also be the one to help all of ye displaced workers find a new job!" he declared. "With me!" and then he explained. Although Lex had no faith in the DEO to do anything of use or worth, he was still a cautious man and preferred to be safe, rather than sorry. For that, even though he knew the odds were slim, he had issued a shutdown of that bar and was sending all of the workers across and around the globe, to do their anti-alien business elsewhere.

It acted as a win-win situation because, on the one hand, Lex got more minions in more bases of operation around the globe. On the other, it eliminated the odds of anything being traced back to him and, since he was the richest creature in the universe, he was able to pay everything off with ease. It was literally not even a penny out of his wallet to give every single person at that party a life slap in the lap of luxury in any location they chose to reside in (so long as it wasn't the USA. They had to get out of the country, for their own safety. Leave no traces or bread (pie) crumbs behind…)

So while that party started with the entire Luthor clan together under one roof, it ended with all of them spreading out in all directions, dispersing across the Earth under new names, faces and IDs, each of them multi-billionaires thanks to Lex's generosity. Now with each of them starting a new, and luxurious life, far away from America, Lex could leave the bar Kara was kidnapped in to waste and rot while he continued to run Universe Food from behind the scenes.

"But I'm not done yet!" the crazy old Luthor muttered darkly to himself as he allowed himself to be taken back to jail. "No, instead, I have still many more ideas yet to come! Planning for the future never stops for the Man of Tomorrow!" he gave a gleeful cackle, and then sat totally still and silent in the middle of his cell, just thinking. Thinking, thinking, thinking.

It was his plan to, sometime in the future, pull off the biggest mass-kidnapping yet! He would give something that the universe could really tremble in fear about! This would be his greatest heist yet! He only needed a way to do it, and that was exactly what he was formulating now. Endless plots and plans and schemes for the future. And he would never stop and never rest until that day came. There really was no rest for the Man of Tomorrow…


	29. Chapter 23: Expiration Date

Date:

In the coming days, the world underwent great changes. For one, the president repeated the threat of shutting the entire DEO down due to its lack of ability to make any progress on the missing aliens. For another, then, a new DEO director was installed. Sierra Lyra was her name and she was supposed to be able to make the DEO great again, leading it away from the bumbling buffoons known as J'onn J'onzz and Alex Danvers.

"Fan-freaking-tastic!" Alex hissed as the new DEO director strutted in haughtily, a signed form from the president in her hand. "We're being replaced!" Beside her, J'onn only wore a cold expression, face shifting between anger, envy, shame and resignation. And with this new director came yet another reminder that the DEO was on very thin ice before it would sink entirely, forced to meet its maker and die. Their expiration date came closer every day, time really was ticking very, very fast for them all.

Universe Food, meanwhile, was seeing positive changes. At least in Lex's sense of "positive". At the present, the Luthor clan was united once more, sitting in a large, empty meeting room and discussing their latest figures and plans for the future. Lex sat at the head of the table and on his right was Lenny. On his left was Lillian. Around the rest of the table were a few of his other old friends and allies. Although some were unable to be there in person, laptops with their FaceTimes were on, so it really was a very complete reunion.

"Lenny," Lex said, reclining in a fancy office chair in a large, empty meeting room. "It has been estimated that that there could be up to 10 trillion alien populations out there in our known universe and if that is the case, what's to stop it from being true that all of the other universes out there have the same number?" he put his feet up on the smooth, shiny meeting table. Lenny sat beside him, looking nervous. Although he did honestly consider himself a friend of Lex, that didn't mean he wasn't intimidated by the mad Luthor.

"I take great pleasure in seeing all of the videos you manage to send me, watching all of those Kara-clones getting ripped apart at the limb like pork being pulled for barbecue, and I live for the days that I get to see all of those other roach-clones screaming and squirming like the stupid little wretches they are, getting exactly what they deserve for tainting this glorious planet with their presence!" Lillian agreed with a dark smile. "So it would be nice to see how much further we could extend our reach!"

"And I can't imagine it would be that difficult," Lex nodded, easily bouncing back off of his mother's words. They really were like two peas in a pod, it was eerie. "Every universe has proven itself unspeakably plain and simple and stupid, for somehow still not realizing just what they are eating when they buy our burgers. If they are that shallow-minded and thick-skulled, it shouldn't be too hard to keep expanding our reach..."

"Well, Kryptonian meat is my favorite," Lenny offered up weakly. Lex was getting that glint in his eye again and it was making him nervous, because every time he got that look, it meant that he had something dastardly up his sleeve. Lenny might've supported Lex 1000%, but that didn't mean Lenny didn't wish Lex could be a bit less... creepy, at times.

"My favorite is probably that Kryptonian Double Meat burger with the bacon," a new voice said suddenly. It was one of the other honorary Luthors at the meeting. She had been one of the workers at the bar Kara was kidnapped at all those years and years ago.

"Nah, the original meat pie is better! Can't beat the very first incarnation!" another meeting member replied, then suddenly, the entire table was full of chatter about their favorite meal. Lex watched the conversation unfold through a tight smile. Although, to some degree, it made him proud to see his followers still so blindly devoted to him, and he was glad to revel in his triumph over the alien scum, but at the same time, he had more important matters to discuss than everyone's favorite burger. To watch them, then, sitting around the table like a bunch of hungry kids at McDonalds fighting over what they were going to order, made him a bit irked. Was he the only one in the room with any vision or focus?!

So after a few minutes went by, the Luthor finally took charge over the room again, snapping them all back to attention. He removed his feet from the table and leaned forward conspiratorially towards the others.

"But why aliens?" he asked, cutting them all off at once, silencing their idle, idiotic and impudent chatter. "Why aliens? Why make food out of the aliens? Well, because, in addition to being valuable slave labor, aliens are delicious and nutritious!" of course, this was already common knowledge (to some extent) but it made Lex happy to say it, and to remind them all what they were really doing here. Although this was mostly all just a revenge plot for Lex's own satisfaction, there was a small piece of it that went beyond the realm of mere revenge. He had done studies that proved that some alien meat really was good and healthy for humans. And there were rumors that eating the right alien the right way could grant the eater a temporary power-boost, so to speak. Lex hadn't quite proven that one yet, but it was an exciting theory to him nonetheless. So this wasn't only about killing aliens so that humans could live, and reveling in the irony and literalness that it took in the form of Universe Food, it was also about trying to increase a human's own prowess through the use of aliens!

Lex really did believe aliens subservient to humans and he considered all of them in debt to the human race, especially when they tried to come and live on Earth. Lex really did believe an alien's rightful place was serving a human. So he took that belief literally until that aliens were literally serving humans, being the food that humans ate right off of their plate. Lex believed the only contributions to society that aliens could (or should) make were to the betterment of mankind, even and especially at the cost of their own benefits. So that was why Universe Food had been born. Along with being an anti-alien and anti-Superman vendetta, the company existed to force aliens to make the "correct" contributions to society: as fuel for humans.

"Aliens are a bit like big pigs," Lex continued with a cruel smile. "They squeal like them too. It's a bit of a struggle, keeping them alive and running all this machinery all the time, but they do scream quite nicely if you CAN be bothered to keep them alive through the entire process."

"Agreed," Lillian nodded at her son, slowly taking her turn in the conversation again. "Aliens are a bit strange on the tongue, I will confess, but they do taste very good."

"And that alien-human halfling, Nia Nal, she's better than one would think. I hadn't realized that her scrawny little body and her mismatched genetics would've made for such great pies!" Lenny muttered to himself thoughtfully.

"Exactly!" Lex's eyes glittered again as he suddenly pointed at Lenny. Now the group was finally getting somewhere. Now the dimwits were finally starting to follow Lex's next greatest plan.

The Luthor quickly stood up from the table before activating the large screen behind them all. It played a video of him explaining a new plan to create some sort of Mac and Cheese type dish using Kryptonian meat and pork. It was literally going to be called the Long-Pork Mac and Cheese and the entire video consisted of Lex explaining the recipe and how it was supposed to work. He had done one single trial on one single Kara clone and he had brought the results.

"Now it's time for a taste test!" he cried as he unveiled the small pot of food. Everyone took a little helping and the responses were all simultaneous and unanimous.

"God! That's good!"

"But I'm not just in the market of creating new food products!" the Luthor bragged, looking quite pleased with himself and the positive reception he was getting from his friends and allies. "I'm also in the market for FINDING new food products..." he said, after a dramatic pause. That was when he switched the video away to a complex diagram he'd made. It was a list of all the potential alien lifeforms both in the universe of Earth 38 and in all of the other crossover worlds of Elsewhere.

"It is my greatest hope and dream," the Luthor began. "That we may conquer the other known universes and continue our expansion outward! We already have plenty of chains in each world, but I want more than just that. I want their aliens..." and then he switched the slides on his presentation one last time. This time, it explicitly showed Earth 1. There was a date written across it. An expiration date. And a map, and a plan. This was where his multi-versal conquest was going to start. From One all the way down to Done...

A few months later, one of Lex's earlier predictions surrounding the alien bar that Kara had been kidnapped at proved true. Even though the DEO had scoured the place countless times before, they would still occasionally drop in to try and see if anything new would ever show up. This time, when they came along, they found even less than before.

"The bar's closed now!" Alex snarled in frustration as she and several other agents stood before the old building's decrepit sign and door.

"If there was ever any hope of finding a clue, it's long gone now!" J'onn muttered, scowling up at the shambling building. It was totally devoid of life, dirty and dark, untouched for months.

"And from the looks of what we've found, or rather, not found, it will stay that way for many months more," a new voice agreed darkly. It was Lena. She and her own squadron had just finished scouting the area, and still nothing. While Alex's team tried to search the abandoned bar again, Lena and hers went around the surrounding neighborhood. Neither of them found anything. Although this surprised no one, it was still rather disheartening. Even after all this time, still nothing.

"And with the president's threat looming over all of our heads, who knows how much time we have left?" Alex sighed sadly as everyone returned back to the DEO base, defeated and empty-handed once again. Their expiration date was ticking closer and closer every day...


	30. Chapter 24: Piece De Resistance

Date:

In the days to come, Cadmus planned the biggest mass-kidnapping of aliens in Cadmus history. It would be the mother of all kidnappings, the pièce de résistance of the entire Cadmus legacy. Starting from the top and working their way down the list, the shady organization first set its sights on Earth 1…

At Earth 1, various aliens at Santorini Island had been resting peacefully in their beds when the first wave of kidnaps began. They were captured by Earth 38's Samuel Lane with the help of 20 Cadmus agents. Since it was supposed to be a mass-kidnapping and since Lex and his goons still had many other parallel universes to conquer, they needed to start off slow, small and silent. They didn't just strike in the night while their targets were asleep, they also used a special noxious gas that made the aliens' sleep even deeper. There was no violence or bloodshed on this particular raid. That would have to wait until later. It was too soon for it to be safe for Lex's henchmen to reveal themselves to the world.

So for that, after the gas took hold over the sleeping aliens, the Cadmus agents carried them all back to the ship used for the interdimensional travel. They hopped back over to Earth 38 and deposited their first collection right into the cold, metal claws of the Slaughterhouse. As soon as that was done, then, they went right back into outer space, headed off to the next dimension for their next bounty.

But while those Cadmus agents continued to spread across the multiverse, hunting and capturing with terrifying abandon, the captured aliens in question were forced to remain behind in the place that would soon become their literal Hell, an everlasting nightmare of fire, death, blood and suffering to the highest degree. The first round of kidnapped aliens consisted of Saturn Girl, male Red Saturnian, a female White Saturnian, a male Yellow Saturnian and a female Jirenn. All of them woke up side by side in matching cloning machines, though they did not know what the machines were at first. Instead, for a time, there was only confusion and panic as the group struggled to break out of their prisons. It failed.

But then at last, an answer came to them, and it was not a pretty one in the slightest. It first came to them in the forms of Samuel Lane, his wife, the Graves siblings and Eve Teschmacher. They each took a turn in explaining what was about to become of the Saturnians and it was not a pretty picture at all. But once the verbal demonstration was done, the real fun began, and those words were sprung into action.

Saturn Girl was the first to go, a small piece of her DNA being collected by the cloning machine before she was shoved on down the line, restrained by metal rope and claws, moved forward by a merciless conveyor belt, towards meat grinders, blades, ovens and everything else one could imagine inside a slaughterhouse like that. She panicked, screaming and thrashing like a maniac, but it was all in vain. She was forced through a meat grinder, crushed and torn into bloody bits, before the mushy mess of her was shoved into a fiery furnace. Once all the meat was done being cooked, it continued on down the line through a set of other various machines until, by the end of the line, the only thing that remained was a pile of hotdogs.

"Mmm-mmm! Isn't it just delicious?" Otis asked sadistically as he grabbed several of the hotdogs, passing them around to his compatriots before taking a mockingly cruel bite out of his own in front of the remaining aliens. They quaked, trembling in their boots as they watched Lex's goons munch tauntingly on the greasy remains of Saturn Girl. One of them even vomited in his own containment chamber, but by that point, no one had any reaction to it. The other aliens were too terrified to do more than wail while the henchmen on the outside continued to mockingly devour their hotdogs.

"Mmm-mmm!" Sam grunted in pleasure, giving the cowering aliens a very toothy smile. His wife mirrored the movement. But before long, the other aliens joined the first, each of them forced down the same path she'd endured only minutes earlier. Like cows and cattle being sent off to slaughter, they were sent one by one down the line until nothing but a steaming pile of freshly-cooked meat remained on the other side.

After a time, then, Lex finally set his sights back on his home planet of Earth 38. He knew that there was a hotel out there in National City built and protected by the DEO in order to house aliens for their own protection. It had been designed because of him and his cruel kidnappings.

"Well now they've made it easy for me!" the Luthor snickered as he studied the hotel's location on a map. "They've given me an entire cluster of targets to kidnap and I didn't even have to do anything!" and with one more mad laugh, he sent out his next batch of troops to go secure the aliens of that National City hotel. It would be a killing blow not just for the aliens in question, but for the DEO as well, Lex was certain of it. The president would never allow that organization to stay open if he was able to pull off such a spectacular heist as this. It would be killing two birds with one stone, a true pièce de résistance within what was already quite the pièce de résistance. It would be the death of countless aliens and the DEO all at once! It was almost too good to be true! Almost.

A female Andromedan, male Angtuan, female Arane, male Brylyx, male and female Dokris, female Dyrlian, female Cambion named Raven aka Rachel Roth (Demon–Human Hybrid), female Tamaranean Crown Princess Koriand'r aka Starfire, male Halla, female Hator named Badra, female Almeraci, the White Martian M'gann M'orzz, a male Zambian, female Zandrian, male Zamaron, female Zilliphi, male Zoltams, female Yellow Martian, male Xenusian, female Warworlder, male Vimanian, female Varidian, male Valeronian, female Uxorian, male Sornaii, female Titanian, male Rigellian, female Qwardian, male Maltusian, female Lunarian, male Invisible Raider, female Lartnec (Star Sapphire), male Fire People, female Euphorian, male Djinn, , female Dyrlian, male Halla, female Hykraian, male Jaquaan, female Kalanorian, male Klaramarian, female Krell, male Krenon, female Lasma, male Lexorian, female Lunarian, male Margoi, female Mosteeler, male Naltorian, female Promethean Giant, and female Cambion Raven were all kidnapped from that allegedly safe hotel by 250 Cadmus agents.

The agents used the same sleeping gas here as they had on Earth 1 and it worked just as well. All of those aliens were quickly spirited away back to Cadmus HQ where Lillian then had them secretly sent back to Lex's slaughterhouse. Lillian was still the only member of Cadmus to know about Universe Food and since Lex wanted to keep it that way, Lillian had painted the kidnapping scheme as a secret plot to forcibly deport aliens. Her henchmen believed it and when they brought the kidnapped aliens back to her, she had them loaded up onto spaceships to give off the illusion of forced deportation but, in reality, those aliens never left the face of the Earth even once. Instead, they only received a one-way ticket to the slaughterhouse.

Because there were so many victims this time around, though, the shipments came in sets of 10 at a time. The slaughterhouse was big, and ever-growing, but even it had a few limitations and space was definitely one of them. But even though it took time to get all of those kidnapped aliens inside the slaughterhouse, it did all happen eventually, and every time, the latest group was always met by Lex's goons and all of his ghastly, gory machinery, whirring tirelessly in the background. This time, the ones to do the "meet (meat, ha ha) and greet" was the "Unholy Trinity" itself. This was the nickname given by everyone else to Lex, Lenny and Lillian, just because all three of them were the leaders of this entire attack. Of course, Lex stood over even Lenny and Lillian, but from a distance, all three of them seemed to be on fairly even footing, on the innermost circle of the entire crazy, cannibalistic circus that was Universe Food.

"Don't even bother trying to escape, the machine's materials are indestructible," Lillian said smugly to her terrified and struggling captives.

"They were forged from some of the strongest materials in the universe!" Lenny confirmed. "And I should know, I built them!" he added, looking quite proud of himself.

"And not only that, but we've kept ourselves so well-hidden over the years that your alibis are already signed, sealed and delivered," Lex finished with a very dark, calm, smooth satisfaction that sent chills down the captives' spines. "No one will ever know where you are or what you have become…"

Over the course of the next few hours, the slaughterhouse became a literal nightmare and a total mess. Eventually, even Lenny and Lillian both fled the scene, unable to stomach anymore of the violence or gore. Although both of them were ruthless, Lex's madness was such a literal cut above the rest that the two of them finally broke and left him standing alone in the heart and heat of his precious creation as the body parts of various dissected aliens swung over his head like some demented circus attraction.

Lex only stood there with his arms open wide, a beatific smile upon his cruel face as he watched alien bodies being torn and twisted apart by merciless machinery, all of the guts and gore inside the aliens either being torn out violently, or being left to fall where it landed. Blood raining down, limbs raining down, things being torn, cut, crushed, shredded, peeled, burned, scourged. Cooking, roasting flesh. Cracking bones. Bodies on meathooks. Organs falling out or being carefully removed, cut open and roasted. Even slices, slow-burns. Pieces and parts everywhere, being packaged up and shipped away across the universe.

It would take quite a while to clean all the stray blood and bones off the ground, but in the literal heat of that moment, nothing mattered to Lex except himself and the wounded howls and bellows of his dying enemies as they fell, left and right, each coming out in the final form of some sort of food product.

Not too long after this, Universe Food publicly announced 50 New Burgers and meat pies, along with several other new food products (like the hotdogs) and complimentary sauces. As one might've expected, then, the fast food chain experienced massive sales increases as people across every universe hungrily and eagerly ran about in attempt to try all of Universe Food's newest dishes. Lex, meanwhile, sat contentedly in jail, smiling maniacally to himself as the smell of greasy fast food filled the prison. Guards and inmates alike dined on his fare and nothing filled him with a more savage pride and joy than that. He, himself, was enjoying a nice Original burger before finishing it all off with one of those Sweet Dreams chocolate pies. It was delicious! Victory really was so sweet!

Back at the hotel where all of the kidnappings had occurred, there was nothing left to find. The Unholy Trinity that was Lex, Lenny and Lillian had been too cunning. They created technology that essentially wiped all of that hotel's security footage. The DEO had not a single trace to follow, just an endless walk of empty beds. There wasn't even any DNA-based evidence, or something small like a window slightly cracked open or a door that looked like it hadn't been locked properly. There was just absolutely nothing there, nothing left behind. Lex, Lenny and Lillian had done their work far too well and it left the failing organization with nothing.

"Not nothing," Cat Grant snapped at J'onn when he came to her, broken over this latest loss. It was even harder on him now than ever before, not just because of the sheer size or skill of the kidnapping, but because M'gann had been part of it this time.

"Not nothing," Cat repeated, then she revealed one last little security camera that the Luthors failed to find. It was one of Cat's own personal devices, and that was exactly why it had gone noticed. The Luthors had trained their tech to set their sights on DEO equipment, never even knowing that there might've been more than just that lurking within that alien safe haven. Maybe it wasn't enough to save the day or stop the kidnapping, but Cat sneaking in one of her own little cameras onto the premises gave the DEO the first real, good evidence about the kidnappers that they'd ever had before. So thanks to one small oversight on Lex's part, part of his ruse was finally made known to the DEO, and it was all thanks to the cunning of one Queen of All Media. She was the only one even remotely close to matching a Luthor on wits.

"Cat! You're a hero!" Alex practically sobbed as she rushed over to embrace the media empress with gratitude. Cat looked very uncomfortable with the sudden hug, but she didn't push Alex away. Instead, she awkwardly returned the hug as she gave the young DEO agent the recorded footage. The rest of the DEO was quick to turn Cat into a national hero too, and she was very pleased with all of the praise she was receiving, but it did still have to be kept quiet just so the enemy would not realize that someone had finally managed to catch onto their trail. At long, long last, things were looking up. And it was all because Lex had failed to realize that the DEO wasn't the only one out looking for the missing aliens.

But even though Cat gave the DEO a lead that it had failed to find itself for over a decade, it still wasn't enough. Cat might have given them a start, but they were all still very far from the end to this terrible mystery.

Another crushing blow came not too long after. The DEO was finally, formally shut down by the president.

"I made my terms very clear and you failed to meet your end of the bargain," she told J'onn coldly. "For that, I'm keeping my promise and shutting you down!" and thus was the end of the DEO, but even though the DEO had been FORMALLY shut down…

"It doesn't mean we can't still all meet up and work on this mystery together!" Alex had been so encouraged by Cat's cunning little trick that even though the DEO had just been formally dissolved, shut down by the president herself, her spirits remained high and she was already planning on building what would essentially become the DEO 2.0.

"We have Cat and Lena still on our sides. With their combined influence, who needs the DEO!?" and the others couldn't help but smile and agree. Maybe things weren't looking down quite as much as they seemed. Maybe there was still a chance they could solve this mystery and save the day after all. Maybe their own pièce de résistance was already waiting for them on the horizon, only just slightly out of reach… for now…


	31. Chapter 25: Dark Discovery

Date:

February 15, 2040, Earth 1's Team Flash arrived at Santorini Island and were stunned by the crime scene left behind. Barry was swift to ask the cop in charge of the investigation what had happened and the cop begrudgingly admitted that an entire hotel of aliens had been kidnapped in their sleep only hours ago. It was a horrific discovery for Team Flash and they were quick to join in on the search. They thought for sure that the culprits of such a crime could not have gotten too far away with so many aliens, but boy were they wrong. They had no idea how well-orchestrated the kidnapping was and they had no idea that the people responsible for it were already 37 Earths away, back home safely in Lex's slaughterhouse on Earth 38.

February 21 2040 So while Team Flash yielded fruitless results back on Earth 1, those on Earth 38 were practically going through a civil war. Although no discoveries had yet been made on Earth 38 either, since that was where the kidnappings happened the most often and most visibly, that was the Earth to suffer the most violent fallout. The most recent kidnapping made headlines the very next morning and the riots were off the charts. Even though the DEO had been officially shut down, the physical locations of each site remained and the protestors and rioters wasted no time in hunting each one of them down and storming them, destroying them utterly. There was nothing left inside, but the rioters went and crushed the facilities anyway, as a way to vent out their pent up rage at what had been happening to the aliens of Earth.

February 28 2040 But as rough as things were on Earth 38 at the moment, since Earth 1 had finally taken real notice of what was going on, they were able to really join in the hunt for the missing aliens. Although they never found their fallen friends, they did eventually realize that the kidnappers could've only gotten away so fast so easily if they had just jumped into another dimension. After coming to that conclusion, Team Flash contacted the other known Earths as fast as they could.

February 30 2040 "Even though we have no idea where our missing aliens went, we think that the kidnappers must be interdimensional!" they told the other Earths, and after a bit more time, with everyone else on the lookout as well, they were finally able to trace it all back to one specific Earth: 38. Of course, Earth 38 had suspected for some time that they were the place of origin for the kidnappers just because the kidnappings had been the most frequent there, but to have confirmation and to have all the other Earths turning their attention on #38 made things a bit "better". There were still no answers to be found, but with all the Earths turning a new eye on 38, more outside help and attention was devoted to the hunt for missing aliens and one Earth was zeroed in on as the main base of operations.

"It's not much, and nothing we didn't already speculate," Alex remarked as she heard Barry speaking through their interdimensional communicators (the device used to be Kara's, back when she, as Supegirl, had gone to help Barry fight in Earth 1). "But it is nice to have direction confirmation," she said. "And it's even nicer to finally really have help!" of course, all the Earths had been involved in the search for the missing aliens, but with Team Flash able to confirm with 100% certainty that the heart of all the mess lay in Earth 38, the help from other Earths was becoming much more prevalent. That was a huge help to those fighting to save the kidnap victims.

March 2 2042 It still took a couple years, but at long, long last, a breakthrough finally came around, and a very dark discovery was finally made. It all happened in the year Universe Food turned 25 years old. The Superfriends had all gone out to their local Universe Food location when it happened.

"Mmm! Delicious!" Alex murmured as she and Maggie devoured several pork chops and potstickers. Beside them, James and Lucy were having several burgers. The surviving Nals had also come along, and they were presently sharing a large pizza with Brainy. Lena, Jess and Winn were all munching on white-meat burgers while Eliza, J'onn, Cat and Dimitri were having the hot dogs. Once the meal was done, then, they all went back up for dessert, happily jumping into some of those sweet, delicious, chocolate-cream pies.

"I must know their secret!" Alex muttered as she ate her third pie.

"Pig," Maggie teased, elbowing her wife warmly. Alex was too fixated on her pie to hear this snide remark. Instead, she kept right on eating, earning a laugh from everyone else at the table. But they, too, were all devouring the scrumptious pies. Between them all, at least 15 pies must've been consumed!

Ah! I have just the thing!" Lena exclaimed suddenly, with a playful smile. "It's still a prototype, but if we wanted to find out what sort of meat Universe Food really uses, we could give this thing a whirl!" what she pulled out of her purse was a small, handheld device that looked like a computer mouse. As she explained to the others, it was a little something that she had been working on for years in attempt to help Earth 38 find its most infamous kidnapper ever. In essence, it was a scanner. One touch and the mouse would be able to detect if there was any alien DNA on what it touched, and what type of alien it was. Of course, like Lena said, it was still a new and unstable tool that required a lot more testing, but with the first draft done, she was eager to try it out.

"Wow," J'onn gave the tool a guarded look while Brainy looked deeply interested. Although the 31st century had had much fancier tech than that, he could not deny how impressed he was with what Lena had been able to do with the shambling junk they had here back in the 21st century.

But as Lena explained, it wasn't too terribly hard to build. It did take a lot of time, effort, knowledge and understanding, but the general function of the device really was actually quite simple. She just uploaded every known genome native to Earth into the device's memory banks and if whatever it touched found a genome that was NOT within the memory banks, it would flash red to indicate a foriegn lifeform. This had been incredibly difficult for Lena to make, requiring years to assemble all of its necessary components, and it had taken an ungodly amount of care, devotion and knowledge on how to construct such a device, but she finally had one of its earliest iterations done.

"Alright then! Test it out!" Winn cried excitedly. Being a huge tech geek, there was nothing he loved more than new fancy gadgets. He shoved a half-eaten burger at Lena, pulling the bun and toppings away to reveal the lukewarm meat patty underneath. Universe Food's meat had been a mystery for 25 years, no scientist or agricultural industry ever being able to identify what sort of meat the company used, but now it seemed like the great mystery was about to end.

"It'll be just like Plankton finally getting the Krabby Patty Secret Formula," Alex remarked suddenly, a dry smile flickering across her face. Beside her, Winn snickered and nodded.

"The only difference is, we will actually get to LEARN the secret," he said, referring to the fact that Plankton technically had never ever learned the secret behind the famous patties of Bikini Bottom. Now the Superfriends, unlike the unicellular life form down below, were going to get their answer… Lena pressed the scanner to the meat. Around her, some of the other Superfriends were playfully placing bets on what kind of meat it was. If it was nothing any earthly company could detect, then maybe it was something extraterrestrial. Or perhaps it WAS earthly meat after all, and Universe Food was just really good at hiding where it got its steady supply.

As it turned out, the answer was a bit of both. Lena's scanner flashed red.

"Ah! So not something native to this Earth!" James declared triumphantly, having been one of the folks to guess that Universe Food meat was not a naturally-occurring thing.

"But wait!" Lena cried suddenly, pulling the scanner close to her face and narrowing her eyes in confusion and disbelief. "I'm actually getting an exact reading! It says that the DNA sequence within the meat patty is… a Starhavenite! And only that, but it's- oh, God- it's… it's… it's Lyra! Lyra Strayd! This burger meat is reading as sharing Lyra Strayd's exact genetic information!"

For a moment, none of them could process anything that Lena said. They all went silent, on total lockdown, only able to stare soundlessly at the tiny device in Lena's hands. Its red glow was like hellfire and the word "Starhavenite" was like a death sentence. It was only one word, but it was a nightmarish one at that. And the genetic sequence that the burger was displaying matched up perfectly with the genetic sequence of the Starhavenite whose DNA Lena had programmed into the system: Lyra's DNA.

"No, no, no! That's not right! Something must not be right! It must be a glitch! It must be broken! It's still in its early stages, after all!" Lena despaired, muttering to herself as she slapped the device a few times as if hoping to calibrate it. But even though this was a logical conclusion for the Luthor to make, she knew deep down that her device was spot on and exactly right. Although there was a fair shot that the device was just glitching, the fact that the burger was able to produce such a precise and exact replica of Lyra's own DNA sequence was chilling. It was unnatural and unprecedented, and any doubts Lena had about the accuracy of her device faded right then and there. As hard as it was to believe, the resemblance was just too uncanny to be denied, ignored or brushed over. That burger was made up of Starhavenite meat, of Lyra Strayd, to be precise… Oh, god…

The first one to come to her senses was Alex. She yanked the device from Lena's hands and Lena let her, literally frozen in place, unable to move or even think. All she could do was stare at her now-empty hand, where the device used to be. But while she and all the rest had gone into shock, motionless and silent, Alex frantically began to scan the one other burger still left on the table: the Universe Food original. The one that came out 25 years ago. The burger that started it all. She scanned the meat, and then screamed. It was an exact perfect copy of the DNA Lena had used to catalogue Kyrptonians. It was Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl.

In the aftermath, while Alex fell into a shrieking despair, one of the Superfriends (Winn) raced back to the counter to order more food while J'onn led Alex (and Eliza) away from the building. While he tried to comfort that Danvers outside, Winn brought back more patties, pies, pizzas and other menu items to scan them all. Every race of alien that had ever gone missing showed up on that scanner's face. The DNA on the chocolate cream pie was a perfect copy for the Naltorian whose genes were in Lena's little device: Nia Nal.

After that little discovery, Winn collapsed to the floor in a dead heap, the shock finally completely shutting him down. Brainy plunged into a deep despair at the same time, yanking the device from Winn's hand and uttering a silent cry of disbelief and despair before running outside after J'onn and the Danvers. The surviving Nals ran after him, Maeve already sobbing while Paul's face remained blank, and uncomprehending. The others could only sit there and stare, still lost in silent terror and horror, as they finally realized just what it was that they had been eating for the past 25 years. They could only stare. Silent. Shocked. Mute. Uncomprehending. Unseeing. Deaf. The meat. That burger meat. That Universe Food meat. All of it. Had been alien meat. All of it. And some of it, had belonged to some of their very best friends. Lyra Strayd… Nia Nal… Kara Zor El aka Supergirl. All along, after all this time, they had all been eating Supergirl.


	32. Chapter 26: Universe Food is Exposed

Date:

March 21, 2042. In no time flat, the story had spread like wildfire all over. Horror unmatched filled every last person as the news finally broke about the truth regarding Universe Food's secret recipe.

"I can't believe it. I can't believe it. After all of this time... I can't believe it," J'onn had since fallen to his knees in disgust and despair. He was still outside the store, comforting the weeping Danvers and Nals. Everyone else remained inside, on total mental lockdown, barely able to process what they had just learned, let alone be coherent enough to react to it. But at last, they were forced to move.

Winn went home and finally broke down, puking up in his bathroom while crying out for Lyra. James and Lucy also went home and, for the first time ever, it was Lucy who began to panic while James remained in a locked down state, totally silent. Lena left the store enraged, grinding her teeth and clenching her fists. She saw red the whole trip home and once she got into her house, she overturned half of it in a fit of rage, screaming, crying and throwing and breaking things in a first time ever, it was Lucy who began to panic while James remained in a locked down state, totally silent. Lena left the store enraged, grinding her teeth and clenching her fists. She saw red the whole trip home and once she got into her house, she overturned half of it in a fit of rage, screaming, crying and throwing and breaking things in a tantrum as the true horror of all that had transpired finally sank into her brain.

Brainy seemed at a loss for words or understanding. He returned to the DEO and once again put himself into a shutdown, a temporary coma. He did this to escape the horrific truth of what had become of Nia, and he had also done this in attempt to process it all and wrap his mind around the fact that this horrific scandal had been able to carry on for 25 YEARS without anyone having the slightest clue... All of the Superfriends had been shattered by Lena's accidental discovery, and none of them could process anything for the rest of the day.

A few days later, their nightmarish discovery finally began to sink in. It was still hard to stomach, but they could not deny it. For the last 25 years, that fast food empire had been serving the meat of aliens. For the last 25 years, the Superfriends had been devouring their friends and allies without even realizing it.

The entire company was built upon sick, twisted lies. And the multiverse had unwittingly fallen for it. It was enough to leave a very, very sour taste in the Superfriends' mouth. But as nightmarish as the truth was, it simply had to be spilled, and J'onn wasted no time in spreading the word across the universe.

It didn't take long for the scandal to reach the rest of the public's ears. Thanks to Lena and Cat's combined influence, power and media smarts and skills, the entire country of America managed to learn the truth all in one night. The DEO (or rather, its unofficial successor) secretly sent data out to the president in order to raise awareness and when she realized just what it was that she had been eating for all these years, she wasted no time in rejoining J'onn and helping him spread the message across the globe, and then the cosmos. What was even sicker was the fact that she had been in the middle of eating her third "pork" chop only to realize that the meat had come from Supergirl herself. The president had been so disgusted that she literally spat the food out across the table before sprinting away to help get all the other countries of Earth aware of this travesty before helping J'onn set up agencies that would tackle the rest of their universe.

J'onn called up every governmental and DEO agency in the USA before spreading telecommunications to other countries Lena and Cat, once again, helped with the press side of things, quickly whipping up story after story to tell the Earth 38 was really in the Universe Food burgers. Soon enough, there wasn't a single soul alive on Earth 38 who didn't know the truth behind Universe Food and its mysterious burger meat. Soon, Earth 38 could only say one thing: "I ATE WHAT?!" From Midvale to Las Vegas to New York City to National City beyond and back again, every little last person in Earth 38 was exposed to the vile truth about Universe Food. The collective cry that came in response to the unveiling of the truth was only this: "I ATE WHAT?!"

Eventually, then, interviews were held. Famous people across the globe were interviewed about their thoughts and feelings surrounding the Universe Food crimes against humanity and Universe. The Lanes were interviewed by a Female Kalanorian working at CatCo.

"What is your opinion of Universe Food being exposed?" the CatCo reporter Female Kalanorian asked the Lanes.

"No comment," Sam Lane's wife, Ella, replied frostily. Beside her, Sam, himself, said nothing.

"Well, what was your opinion of Universe Food before being exposed?"

"No comment."

"And afterward?"

"No comment."

And this back and forth carried on for several questions more, the Lanes refusing to give an inch while the reporter interrogated them mercilessly. But then at last, he asked a question that finally gained a real answer.

"What is your opinion of Universe Food's meat?" She demanded tiredly, frustrated that they refused to give her a real answer. This question was essentially a repeat of a previous one, but she was so annoyed by the Lanes that she asked it anyway. This was the question that finally got an answer. Sam and Ella both turned to one another and shared a look before slowly turning back to face the reporter. Then together, in perfect unison and monotone, they gave their comment.

"All meat from Universe Food is delicious," they said.

The reporter was shocked, not just by their horrific reply, but the fact that they'd finally replied at all. But feeling hopeful that the ball was finally starting to roll, she was swift to ask them another question, trying to push down his disgust at what they had answered his first one with.

"What is your opinion on all the kidnapped aliens who were served as food by Universe Food?" She asked quickly, steeling his nerves.

"Kryptonian meat is delicious," they replied together again, voices cold and hard and cruel. The reporter trembled and felt her stomach begin to churn, but she fought hard to remain calm as she spoke to them again.

"I will make note of that, but you did not answer my question proper. What is your opinion on the alien victims?" he asked, fighting hard to keep a flat and steady voice. He hoped that, this time, they would give her the answer he wanted. But the Lanes refused to yield and they gave him a bloodthirsty, bloodcurdling smile.

"I'm sure you'd taste delicious as well, Kalanorian," they said, and then they revealed that they had a tiny box of Kryptonian pork chops hidden in their pockets. Slowly and sadistically, they began to devour their Supergirl meat in front of the terrified Kalanorian reporter and she finally broke, fleeing the room at once and running as far away from the evil human couple as he could.

But that interview was just enough. Even though it was technically unfinished, what the poor, brave Kalanorian did manage to get was aired live across the globe. Cat hacked into every news station on Earth 38 and set the recording up so that the globe could finally see and hear firsthand about the truth behind the meat of Universe Food. Now the world finally got to see the human faces and supporters that backed the vile company. Now the world finally got to see the truth in real time. Now the cat was finally out of the bag. Now Universe Food was finally EXPOSED.

But the truth, this time, did not bring the clarity, unity and peace that may people thought and hoped it would. Instead, the aliens of Earth 38 finally held a full-scale rebellion against humans. The time for pity and empathy was over. The time for war and revenge was there. The aliens of Earth 38 no longer felt any connections to the humans of Earth 38 and their global protests and riots really showed that.

"All humans are evil! Demons without souls!" the Earth 38 aliens cried. And as all of this transpired, filling up every media outlet on Earth, Lex Luthor sat alone in his little jail cell laughing like a maniac as his empire came to a glorious and fiery death all around him, crashing hard onto the ground from on high, shaking the Earth to its very core and sending countless more humans and aliens to their deaths in the glorious wake of the massive fallout of Universe Food's exposure.

But to the insane man, the best part of all was that the aliens still hadn't realized that Earth 38 wasn't the only target. There were still plenty of other universes for Lex to reap, and no one else knew because they were all too focused on the drama of Earth 38. All these aliens warring against humans now seemed to forget that they, too, had often eaten Universe Food burgers and, as such, had eaten their own kind, as well as other iterations all across the multiverse.

So the aliens were no better than the humans in that regard. They'd all "drank the Koolaid", they had all eaten the burger meat. They were all guilty. And Lex loved it! He reveled in it! He reveled in knowing that none were pure or innocent or safe. He reveled in knowing that no matter what happened now, he'd still won. He'd still tricked Human and alien alike into eating other aliens. No matter who took the final fall for his sins, the aliens were still no better than the humans they were now warring against. In the end, Lex really had come out on top and even as his world crashed down around him, he was taking even more people and aliens to the grave with him. As far as he was concerned, that was true triumph!


	33. Chapter 27: I Ate What?

Date:

Soon enough, everyone in Universe 38 finally learned the truth regarding Universe Food's famous meat. They all knew that it came from aliens. After the news spread across Earth, it reached the stars, and one of the first places it spread was in Argos City. They got the news from Earth 38 and Alura, Kal and Lois, among many other Argo residents were quick to also learn the dark truth behind their favorite burger company. Alura, Kal and Lois in particular had been busy dining on burgers and pizza when they received the alert saying that the very first victim of the horrific slaughter had been none other than Kara Zor-El herself.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, arrest warrants were signed for everyone suspected of being involved in this crime ring, this massive conspiracy. They were charged with terrorism, aiding and abetting a massive underground alien-trafficking ring and they were charged for kidnap and murder. Branded as an anti-alien hate group, all of Universe Food's employees (especially the higher-ups) were quickly marked off as criminals.

All of Lex's inner circle was quickly caught and arrested, this list including people like Lisa, Hillary, Scott, Donald, Christine, Michelle, Kyle, Ivan, the Lockwood family, Hank Henshaw, the Lanes, the Chan sisters, the Graves siblings, Eve Teschmacher and Lillian Luthor. With them picked off one by one, thrown into a maximum security prison, Universe Food began to crumble. And with Lillian's arrest, Cadmus quickly became a target for arrest as well.

And when arrest warrants weren't going out, other alerts were. The people of Gotham were swiftly alerted to the truth of Universe Food and every resident there was horrified to hear what was really in their favorite patty meat.

"I ate what?!" Batman demanded when Alfred came in with the news, looking seconds away from suffering a heart attack. The rest of Gotham echoed his outraged and disgusted cry and it wasn't long before every Universe Food in Gotham was violently torn down by angry citizens.

And soon, word finally spread across the multiverse. Team Flash was the first set to hear the truth. Coming in from National City was the word that Universe Food was a terrorist group. At first, Barry and friends thought it was some kind of sick, twisted joke, but when various DNA scanners were able to prove to them that Universe Food was selling alien meat, they were quick to follow in the footsteps of Earth 38 and alert everyone they knew about the truth. They alerted Team Arrow and Team Legends. When they caught wind of the news, they had the same reaction everyone else did.

"I ATE WHAT?!" and so across the multiverse, the truth was revealed, until every last iteration of Earth was enlightened about the sordid past of Universe Food. But even though the truth was out, that didn't mean the battle was over. Not even close. Instead, it was only just beginning...

"Ok, so now we know where our missing aliens went," Alex muttered darkly as she called all of the Earth 38's government agencies and militaries in for a giant meeting. Every nation was present. "What we need to do now is figure out who's behind this. Once we have that information, we can take them down!" a wild and almost hateful cheer rippled through the massive group in response to Alex's fiery words. They all put their heads together in an astonishing display of unity, each person trying their best to figure out just who would be capable of such a large-scale attack that was so elegant and refined that it managed to stay alive for 25 whole years. After the initial disgust, hurt and betrayal had past, the only thing anyone felt for Universe Food anymore was the utmost rage, hatred and desire for revenge. Gone was all the good will. Gone was the pride and joy. Gone was the amusement at the burger joint's quirky tagline and "pro-alien" views. Now all that remained was a desire to kill and destroy, to tear the empire down brick by brick.

But despite all the vim and verve, there was still the burning question of who was to blame for all of this. Because the scale of the crime was so extreme and elaborate, it quickly became clear that this was not the fault of some random or ordinary hate group. This was something far bigger, stronger, richer and more refined. But it still had to be someone with all of the resources and cruelty needed in order to pull such a giant stunt off. And successfully, no less! This meant that the world was still scratching its head, even with the list of possible culprits cut down. But then someone finally managed to put the pieces together. Sadly, she wasn't able to spread the word before she was kidnapped.

"It was Lex!" Lena gasped in horror and disgust as she put together the final piece of his puzzle. Then her dismay changed into pure fury. "I should've known!" she snarled. "I should've known he'd try something like this! Who else could be so intelligent, cunning, resourceful and cruel?! Who else has the time, money, power, heartlessness and bitterness to create an empire like this?!"

Lena had suspected her brother from the moment it was revealed that Universe Food was selling alien meat to customers. She already knew that such a sick and twisted scheme would be right up his alley. But since she had no proof beyond a bitter gut feeling, she kept her mouth shut. She led a private investigation into the food company. While it dealt with the fallout that came after Alex and the rest of the DEO made the big reveal to the rest of the universe, Lena was able to sneak in and learn all of the company's dark secrets.

Through these undercover operations, she was able to find quite a few pieces of LexCorp technology. Not L-Corp technology, LexCorp. That was the nail in the coffin for Lena. Seeing obvious signs like that made it clear. And then she began to realize how Lex was able to pull such a stunt off. She figured out his cloning machine and his secret warehouse and the fact that he had a small group of insiders to help him do the dirty work while he remained behind bars.

"You sick, twisted, clever monster," Lena snarled as she uncovered more of Lex's dirty dealings. It enraged and agonized her beyond words to realize that this was the fate that had befallen Supergirl. For 25 long years, the female Kryptonian had been cloned over and over again, each of her poor, innocent copies being slaughtered mere minutes after they were "born". And the original Kryptonian herself, meanwhile, had long since been consumed, eaten up about 25 years prior. It was enough to make Lena want to-


	34. Chapter 28: Lex Luthor and Lena Luthor

Date:

That was the exact moment when Lena had been kidnapped. Even though Universe Food had a lot to answer for, the mastermind behind it all never rested, and he was always vigilant. As soon as the secret got out, he wasted no time in enacting some security measures. He knew that his legacy was over. He knew his empire was finished. But he didn't care. If he was going to go down, he was going to go down in style. So instead of focusing on trying to cover up the truth, Lex abandoned all of his Universe Food locations and let the public do with the company what it wished. He, meanwhile, turned his focus back on all of Supergirl's family and friends back in National City...

"Sir! They've found out about us! They're onto us!" Lenny panicked into the phone as he called Lex.

"Panic is a bad color on you, Mr. Thorul, I can fix this," Lex replied calmly, reclining in his cell. He had already known about how his secret had gotten out. It was blasting on every last channel on every last TV in this rotten, god-forsaken prison. It was all anyone ever talked about. Every article, every tweet, every post, every show, every podcast, every radio, every broadcast, every Youtube video... all of it! It was all only just about the scandal of Universe Food. Lex had already known that his enterprise had been sniffed out, and he knew that his days were numbered. So by the time Lenny managed to get ahold of him to call, badly freaking out, Lex was already five steps ahead.

"We won't be able to save the company," he began.

"What?" Lenny sounded horrified and devastated all at once. Partly, he was worried that he would lose all of his investments and earnings. And partly, he was worried because this had been a 25-year-long endeavor, after all. Losing anything after 25 years was always disappointing. He was horrified at the idea of losing a legacy, and losing all of his money. What would become of him now that his livelihood was about to crash and burn?! He hadn't worked this hard for this long just to see it all fall through now, especially so quickly and easily. One little slip and the entire company was crashing down like a building set for demolition. So part of his fear came from frustration and outrage at the very idea of losing Universe Food now.

And also, he was scared. If the company fell, where would that leave him? Even if he somehow managed to escape the blame and prison sentences sure to follow, what would he do? Where would he go? He could scrounge out his earning now and set them aside for a comfortable living later, but what would he do once his precious empire was crushed into the dirt? Would he even survive the oncoming onslaught of media attention that would be sure to hit him full force now that the secret was out? He didn't want to die or go to jail, but those seemed to be his only options now. How could Lex just so calmly accept the fate of Universe Food?

But despite Lenny's begging, Lex ignored him in favor of his own plans.

"The company will crumble," he continued calmly. "But that is of no importance to me anymore. Instead, I want Lena."

"You- what?" Lenny cut off his panicked rant in genuine surprise.

"I want Lena," Lex replied, still as calm as ever. "You and I both know she will be able to trace this all back to me and if she succeeds, we are both dead. If you want any chance of escaping this mess alive and living a peaceful life undercover, then we need to take her out. Once she is gone, I can handle everything else. I can give you the life you want, you need to follow my instructions to the letter. Understand? To. The. Letter!"

Lex continued to drill it into Lenny's head that obedience was more important now than ever. If Lenny really did want any hope of having a happy ending after this nightmare was over, then he would have to listen and do everything Lex asked from here on out. To do anything less would be to send them both to the grave. Lenny was thoroughly convinced and agreed at once to do whatever Lex asked.

"What's your plan?" he whimpered and, on the other line, Lex gave a very terrifying smile. He might've lost this battle, but he would NOT lose the war.

The real fun was just about to begin!

It was shortly after that phone call that Lex set his plan in motion to kidnap Lena. Telling Lenny to ignore all threats he received from outside forces, he had the man turn his attention away from the company and towards Lena. Lex managed to force some money though to pay for Lena's kidnapping, arranging it such that some of Lenny's more loyal mooks (half of which were robots designed by Lex himself to run the company since he didn't trust humans) set a trap for Lena. They led Lena to one of the older Universe Food locations. Once she was inside, the robots attacked her and quickly brought her to the slaughterhouse where the nightmare had begun over 25 years ago.

"Hey, sis!" Lex greeted through the phone when Lena came around. She was tied to a chair in Lenny's office in the slaughterhouse.

"Lex!" she snarled, going from terrified to outraged the moment she heard his voice. The phone was in front of her on a table, out of her reach.

"The one and only!" Lex sounded smug.

"You did this to me, didn't you?!" Lena continued to snarl.

"It took you this long to figure it out?" Lex teased sadistically. "And here I thought you were the smart one!" he added with a cruel laugh.

"If you think killing me now will solve anything, you're wrong!" Lena replied, tugging violently at her restraints. "All you're doing is setting yourself up for failure! Even if you kill me now, the former agents of DEO will notice that I'm gone and they'll trace it back to you anyway!"

"Oh, sister, sister, sister! Dear sister, you didn't really think I was going to kill you, did you?" Lex pretended to be disappointed in Lena. "I thought you knew me better than that! We're still family, after all."

"You are NOT my family!" Lena spat back bravely, still struggling to escape her chair. It was just like decades and decades ago, right before Lex was arrested the very first time for attempting to kill Superman by turning Earth's yellow sun red. Back then, he'd kidnapped Lena as one final attempt to get her to see things from his perspective. Needless to say, no resolutions were met or made, and Lex was arrested shortly thereafter, forced to turn the sun yellow again before being locked away on Stryker Island where he had remained ever since. Back then, though, Lena had still held out hope that Lex might come around and be good again. Back then, she had genuinely loved him, and wanted to know where the monster inside of him had come from. Back then, she had been kind and gentle, because so had he. And back then, she had not quite yet understood the full magnitude of the hate he carried for aliens...

ooo

2012, Metropolis, LuthorCorp HQ. Lena was strapped to the chair and Lex was staring up at his "magnificent" red sun with a maniacal glow in his once kind, gentle, wise and intelligent eyes. Those eyes that had once shown with such promise were now hollow, bitter and empty, filled only with the fires of rage, hate and envy. It broke Lena's heart to see and all she could do, while strapped down to that chair, was ask why. Why. Why would he do such a thing? How could he?

"Lex, why do you hate aliens so much?" she had asked, voice breaking as she looked up at him while he continued to give a cruel smile to his red sun.

"Aliens are evil," Lex replied calmly, not bothering to look away from his nightmarish creation as he spoke. "Plain and simple. They are animals. They are subhuman beasts who are taking over our world. They are no better than the monsters we see on TV, or in childish videogames. They are invaders and abductors. Just like in all the books and comics we used to enjoy as kids. They are like zombies, monstrous, poisonous and hungry. The media industry was right about them..." Lex finally turned away from his red sun to give Lena a bittersweet smile that seemed to say, "See sis?

They were right all along. We should've known better than to trust the aliens..." but Lena only shook her head. Even though she was terrified, she still could not bring herself to think the same way that Lex did. She could not bring herself to see aliens as evil. They were not at all the monsters that the entertainment industry painted them as, and Lex was crazy for believing that it was that simple.

"You're just xenophobic," the younger Luthor managed to spit out angrily. "You're no hero, and you aren't even close to being correct about the aliens. You're just a bigot too afraid to try and look at the other side of things. You only use this scare tactic to cover up your already thinly-veiled distaste and distrust of any culture that isn't your own. You hate every alien, and every species, and every alien culture. That's not true or rational fear, that's xenophobia, plain and simple!" and that had been the first time Lena ever truly spoke up against her brother in a passionate way. It had outraged and stunned Lex so much that all he could do was stare at her with wide, disbelieving eyes, but before it could really go any further than that, the cops arrived onto the scene. They kicked the door down and arrested Lex on the spot. One of the cops raced over to Lena, freeing her from the chair while demanding to know if she'd had any role in any of Lex's evil attacks. That had been the first time she ever testified against him.

"I did not work for or with him," she told the cop as he set her free. "But I know all about the things he's done, so if you need me to testify against him in court, I have all the evidence you could ever need or want, and I will gladly tell you everything that I know. Just know that I did not ever work for or with him, and that I do not support a single thing he says..." she shot him a cruel glare that was laced with pain as he was dragged off.

"Aliens are animals! They're like cows! Cattle! Slaughter fodder!" he snarled at them all, thrashing with a terrifying rage and violence against the cops.

"Alright, that's enough out of you!" the cop holding onto Lena snapped, then he slammed a piece of tape over Lex's mouth, silencing him. But the hatred and vicious words his eyes spoke screamed louder than anything he could've said with his mouth. And it was right then and there, as he was being driven to prison, that Lex first concocted a plan for revenge. Aliens were like animals. Like cows. Slaughter fodder... And it was during his time in jail that he began to draw up designs for cloning machines and massive slaughterhouses for aliens of every kind. That way, he could kill them all, and then kill them again and again and again.

And during this planning phase in prison, that was when Lex began to think about all the ways he could cook up an alien's meat. He wondered, how good would a Kryptonian taste with fries? And this, as he claimed, would be done in the name of revenge. Revenge against aliens. And Earth-Traitor Humans. It would be revenge against Superman. And against Lex's own "unfair" arrest for the red sun. It would be revenge against the entire world, and just like they always said, revenge tasted soooo sweet. But this time, it would not be a dish best served cold. Instead it would be a dish best served steaming hot, fresh out of the deep fryer...

ooo

"Our last names, our histories, our parents, the rest of society, and your own infernal little DNA scanner would beg to differ," Lex replied calmly, yanking Lena back to the present. "But enough of that stupid little ancestry stuff. I did not bring you here to exchange pleasantries with you."

"You don't say?" Lena continued to fight back.

"I simply came here to keep you out of the way while I finish my work," Lex talked over her.

"Your business?" Lena sounded disgusted. "Don't you know that your empire is crumbling and that there is nothing you can do to save it?"

"Oh I know that!" Lex sounded so dismissive that Lena could almost see him literally waving her off. "I didn't mean that. I don't care what happens to the company now. I never had much stock in it anyway. All I ever wanted, Lena, was blood. And I intend to get it. As much as I can, for as long as I can. Even if this legacy should crumble, it will not go down easily, and I will make every last moment last!"

"You're sick," Lena choked on her own anger.

"Is that the best you've got?" Lex asked back smugly. "And here I thought you were the smart one!"

Suddenly, then, a man opened the door behind Lena. Since she was immobilized in a chair, she couldn't turn around to see him. In the brief few seconds that the door behind her swung open, however, her ears were bombarded by a cacophony of sound. It sounded like... screaming. And machinery, whirring and spinning and buzzing and beeping. But as soon as it had come, the sound died. The door was shut again and the room felt silent once more.

"Who's there?!" Lena demanded, struggling to turn her head around. "Lex?!"

"Not quite," Lex snickered, voice still coming from the phone in front of her. "But a close friend and associate of mine... Lenny Thorul!" and Lena's eyes went wide with horror. Before she could speak, however, Lenny opened his mouth first.

"Listen here, little missy, Lex has given me explicit orders to watch over you!" he growled, then he walked around until he was face to face with Lena. He held a bag full of Universe Food in his hands and wasted no time in force-feeding all of it to Lena, prying open her mouth and shoving every last burger and dessert pie down her throat that he could. It was a struggle and, for a few minutes, Lena could only choke and scream as the alien meat was forced down her throat, but Lenny was relentless and he did not stop until she'd eaten every last little bite. Once the very last bit of burger meat was gone, however, Lenny suddenly released her head and stepped back again.

"Well, sis, what did you think of the meal?" Lex snickered through the phone, having listened to Lena being force-fed for the entire time. Lena, gasping for breath, did not answer. She was scared and humiliated and refused to give Lex the satisfaction of hearing her voice shake. She choked a little, and trembled.

"Ah well, don't worry, the show ain't quite over yet!" Lex sing-songed, then Lenny stepped forward and picked the phone up off the table. He turned it towards Lena and opened up her text messages. Lex had sent her a video. Her eyes went wide with horror as she watched it, Lenny grinning that he was lucky enough to be able to see the betrayal, hurt and anger on Lena's face up close and personal as the event unfolded in real time. Lex, meanwhile, reveled from behind the scenes, knowing that he had just utterly crushed her spirit with that little video. And what was that little video that it yielded such a pained reaction from Lena? Well...

"Supergirl?!" the younger Luthor gasped, and sure enough, it was. The mighty Kryptonian lay unconscious at Lex Luthor's feet. The video was being filmed by Lenny. While Lenny filmed, Lex picked up Supergirl's limp body and tied her down on a nearby operating table. He stripped her down until she was completely naked. Lena shut her eyes, repulsed, but Lenny's chiding forced her to open her eyes again.

"You'll miss the best part!" he hissed, smacking the side of her head in attempt to get her to open her eyes again. "You'll miss the big reveal!" and although Lena almost didn't want to see it happen anymore, she forced her eyes open once again and turned her attention back to the little phone screen.

"Observe closely, now!" Lex instructed, knowing exactly what part of the video Lena was on. Because this phone was one of Lex's, it was not a normal one. This phone was capable of showing a video, holding a phone call and recording someone all at the same time. Lex might not have been able to be there in person, sadly, but he was still able to see Lena's reaction just as up close and personal as Lenny, because the camera on that phone was sending him live footage of Lena's face and reactions as they happened. It was glorious! And he could hear it through the phone that the big reveal was about to occur...

"Oh my god, Kara?" Lena's voice broke and Lex watched her eyes grow wide and wet. He began to cackle on the other end of the line while Lenny gave Lena a vicious smile. Lena, meanwhile, had her eyes glued on the phone screen. As Lex undressed Supergirl, Lena began to recognize her more and more. With the mighty suit gone, there was nothing to distract Lena from Supergirl's body type and face, and that was where the recognition for Lena first started.

Then Lenny zoomed in real close on Supergirl's face and Lena realized she was looking right at Kara Danvers. When the camera zoomed back out, then, Lex was holding Supergirl's loose golden hair in a bun. The same bun Kara always wore in to work. And he held her eyes open, they were the same crystal blue as Kara's.

"Oh my god, Kara!" Lena was seconds away from suffering a total meltdown and even after the video finally ended, coming to a pause, she could only tremble in silent grief, horror and betrayal. She went totally numb, spirit thoroughly broken by what Lex had just shown to her.

"Sweet dreams, sis!" Lex sung through the phone, then Lenny made his exit from the room, taking the phone with him and leaving Lena, still strapped to the chair, behind. The second the door swung open again, the screaming and machinery continued, but then the door slammed shut again and Lena was left entirely on her own. She was hardly aware of it, though, because all she could see in her mind's eye was that video, playing on repeat forever, over and over and over again. So, Kara was Supergirl, and Supergirl was Kara, and Kara was Supergirl, and Supergirl was Kara...

The first thing Lena was aware of after that was anger. Raw and pure. Rage and wrath unmatched. She hadn't even been this angry when she first realized the truth behind Universe Food and its mysterious creator. This anger was on a whole new level, and even "wrath" wasn't violent enough of a word to describe it.

"I'm gonna kill them!" she bellowed into the darkness, tugging on her restraints with new aggression, not that it managed to yield better results this time around. But even so, she continued to scream. "I'm gonna kill them! I'm gonna kill them! I'm gonna KILL THEM!" though whether she was referring to Lex and his brood or the Superfriends was unknow, even to her. She could forgive Kara and the Superfriends for keeping this secret from her for a few years, but for 25?! That was just unforgivable, and Lena wanted nothing more than to rip Alex Danvers to shreds with her bear hands. And she knew that if that were to ever happen, as soon as she was done with Alex, she'd move right onto Lex, killing him with hands still stained with Danvers blood.

"I'm gonna kill them! I'm gonna kill them! I'm gonna KILL THEM ALL!"


	35. Final Chapter: Quest For Peace

Date:

For four months, Lena remained in captivity. In order to keep his own cover, however, Lex never left prison in order to visit her personally, even though he wanted to. Instead, he sent Lenny in to look after her, keeping him under the very strict orders that if he ever did anything to harm Lena in any way, the poor alien clones in the slaughterhouse would have it better than he would. Naturally, this terrified Lenny into submission and even though he liked to tease Lena about how helpless she was, he never once even dared to mistreat her, just in case Lex ever found out.

Lena, meanwhile, could only sit there in the darkness and hope that her friends would figure it out and come rescue her. Or at least shut down this sick, twisted operation. Lena had seen Lex's nightmarish machinery at work and it had been the most disturbing, upsetting and mentally scarring thing she'd ever seen. She would never be able to get those images of Kara being burned and crushed and cut up alive out of her head. It had been hard to stomach and even harder to watch. She knew it would be impossible to forget. Now, she didn't care what happened to anyone or anything, all she wanted was for Universe Food to be shut down, permanently.

For a time, Lena had been consumed by vengeance, rage and hurt, but after seeing all of her friends and family being chopped up or burned alive in front of her, all of her own inner fires slowly died out one by one. How could she stay mad at Kara when she had been forced to watch the girl, the alien, die over and over and over and over and over again? If Lena ever desired vengeance against Supergirl, that desire was well-slaked after spending four months of endless watching, seeing all the ways Kara could be killed and cooked, dissected and torn up from the inside out before all the pieces were burned in an inferno, cooked to perfection and packed away in little boxes.

With Universe Food officially shut down, those boxes never were shipped out anywhere, but Lex was so cruel and sadistic that even though he knew that his glory days were coming to a close, he still keep the entire slaughterhouse running all in the name of killing as many aliens as he could, for as long as he could. Even if the meat just stockpiled up outside, Lex continued to keep all machines in operation just to keep his killings going. That was what really drove Lena to forgive the Superfriends, even if only superficially or temporarily. Of course, she was still mad at them for not telling her about Kara even once during the entire 25 years following her death, but Lex was such a more dangerous foe that she was ready and willing to put aside petty grudges if it meant bringing him down. In short, she hated Lex right now far more than she hated the Superfriends.

"Find me, guys, find me!" she pleaded softly, tugging at her binds once again as she continued to watch the likes of Kara, Lyra and Nia being murdered right in front of her over and over and over again.

Lex, meanwhile, threw all caution to the wind and began recording videos of his slaughterhouse and its victims and all of their graphic, gory demises. Out of pure spite alone, he sent out these compilation videos for the entire world to see, posting them up on every video streaming site he could find, and then sending special hardcopies to the families of the alien victims. It was the ultimate act of torture upon their surviving relatives.

The Nals received a copy of Nia's many, many deaths, Winn received one for Lyra and Alex received one for Supergirl. But Lex wasn't just evil, he was also smart. With that, he made every copy untraceable and siphoned out all funds from his bank account in order to pay off the video streaming services to keep those vicious, violent videos on the site. Just like Lena, Lex was determined to make it so that none of the rest of the world would be able to look away from the massacre either.

But Lex's twisted games weren't over yet. Even after mailing copies of videos of the killings to every media station in the galaxy, Lex still had to have some more fun. This time, he set his sights back on Lena. Even though he was protecting her and forbade Lenny from even looking at her the wrong way, Lex did still permit the man to force-feed his little sister, just to keep her alive and prevent her from trying to starve herself to death.

That was the closest Lenny got to being able to manhandle Lena, but even cruller than that was what Lena was being force-fed. It was alien meat, obviously, but this time, Lex didn't even bother to dress it up like something else. What Lena was force-fed was straight alien meat. It wasn't patties or pies, just slabs and piles of freshly cooked meat, served straight off the grill.

Lena had fought at first, of course, but upon the threat of torture and the pain of hunger and being physically forced to eat, Lena had to endure force-feedings of alien meat that once made up Nia, Lyra, Kara and many old familiar faces. It made her want to vomit, but Lenny was good at his job and would keep his hand clamped tightly over her mouth until she swallowed. After prying her mouth open and holding it there, filling it to the brim with hunks of alien meat, he would close it again and not allow her to open it until every last bite had been consumed. The rage and hatred she felt towards Lex and Lenny for subjecting her to such torture and humilition was starting to make her rage and hatred against Kara and her lies look small.

But eventually, Lena's prayer was answered. Just like she predicted, the DEO took note of her absence and realized that Lex must've been behind the whole operation. Why else would Lena have been the kidnap victim unless Lex was the true mastermind behind everything? They figured that part of the plot out fairly quickly, but it had still taken them months to finally find the place where Lena had been taken.

Once they found it, however, they were on guard immediately.

"Be careful," J'onn muttered. "The fact that we've finally managed to find this place today after 25 years of searching does not mean that we have finally achieved our goal. It means that Lex has finally decided that he needs us, and he wants us here. We are not here of our own merit, but of his. We only found this place because he wanted us to. So keep a sharp eye out!"

"Yes sir," everyone else in his company muttered. This company included a large chunk of the National City DEO, agents from other DEO bases across the country, government agents, the Justice League and the Superfriends. It might've looked like overkill, but in a time like this, there was no such thing as being too cautious. Besides, after the scandal of Universe Food got out, everyone took it as a personal offense. Half the people in this squadron had come of their own will, not because J'onn asked them to. Everyone had a score to settle with Lex now.

And help didn't even just come from Earth 38, but heroes from other Earths and other time periods came along too. Teams Flash, Arrow and Legends came and so did the entire Bat-family and the Legion of Superheroes from the 31st century, brought back through and by Brainy's help. It was a massive team-up, but given the circumstances, no one considered it to be an overkill.

The giant band was able to make it inside the slaughterhouse with ease, but once they were inside, what they saw was the last thing that they would've ever expected... Nothing... There was nothing. The entire factory had been turned off, closed up and shutdown. It was dark, silent, and sterile. Not a single sign of life or death anywhere to be seen. No blood, no death, no decay, no meat. That was how they knew Lex was onto them...

"Well, well, well, you managed to find me," suddenly, a hologram sprung to life. It was Lex himself. "I must commend you," he said. "I never thought it would take you so long, yet you managed to surpass my wildest expectations and actually take an entire over 25 years to figure it out. I really do applaud you for that. You were all just super!" he clapped at them mockingly.

"Lex!" Alex snarled at once. "Where is Lena?"

"Oh, my sister!" Lex pretended as though he had forgotten. "You needn't worry about that. She is safe."

"Oh, yeah, because we're totally gonna take your word for it!" Lucy dared to say, chest puffed out.

"Well, do you have anything better at the moment?" Lex asked innocently, and Lucy wilted again, embarrassed and afraid. Lex laughed coldly at her.

"But you are right," he admitted at last. "You should take my word for it, because my word is your God now. It is all you have in here. If you want to get out of here alive, then you must listen to me. And I suggest you spend more time worrying about yourselves anyway because you are the ones in real danger here. Even if Lena were dead, or dying, or just severely injured and it a lot of pain, it wouldn't matter! You cannot reach her either way. I am in control now and you can do nothing but listen. Or die!"

"Then we're going to destroy this place! We'll set it ablaze and watch it burn until we can spit in the ashes!" Alex spat. "We will do it even if it means killing Lena because we all know she would rather die a thousand deaths than let you have one single victory! And we all feel the same way! We would burn ourselves to burn this place before we let you win!"

"Oooh, bold speech, Mrs. Danvers," Lex smirked. "But I don't think you'll want to do that. You see, I knew you would be here tonight. In fact, it was I who allowed you to find this place at all. If you really want to try and burn this place to the ground, by all means, go ahead, but I warn you that the nukes I have stored underneath this place are a little bit temperamental..." he trailed off with an icy cackle as every eye widened.

"Wait a minute! Did he say nukes?" Aquaman interrupted nervously.

"Yes," Lex replied calmly. "So go ahead. Destroy this place if you must. Or be terminated instead. Have a lovely day!" then Lex's hologram flickered right out of existence, but something quickly took its place. It was another hologram, this time of…

"Kara!" the giant team-up was caught off guard by the holographic side of their old, fallen friend. She looked at them with wide, frightened, unseeing eyes.

"Where am I?" she pleaded, and then a hologram of Lex Luthor returned, yet somehow, the team knew that this hologram was not a "real-time" one, so to speak, but was instead a memory, a recording of the past.

"You at an animal slaughterhouse built for space animals such as yourself," the Lex-hologram-recording told the Kara-hologram-recording. "You'll taste delicious as burger meat!"

The Kara-recording protested with a shrill sob, "I am not an animal to be cooked and eaten!"

"Yes you are," Lex sneered over her whimpering.

"You won't get away with this!" Kara tried to deny, putting on the bravest face that she could.

"Oh yes I will," Lex replied smugly. "And for a very, very long time indeed, I will…"

Then the recording switched angles and the entire massive team-up of superheroes was forced to witness the original Kara die. They were forced to watch the very first Universe Food burger be born. Some of them did look away, covering eyes and ears in horror and despair, but some remained fixated on the evil recording, watching as the first and original Supergirl was ripped apart at the limb before being sliced, diced and burned in an oven, coming out the other side as a batch full of patty meat.

Alex Danvers was sobbing the hardest, even though her friends had covered her eyes and ears for her, refusing to let her watch the gory details of Kara's demise. But Alex didn't need to watch it happen to know how it all transpired, and the mere thought of it alone crushed her spirit beyond repair.

After the holographic recording flickered off, then, the slaughterhouse fell dark and quiet once again.

"Is it over?" someone asked. "What's going to happen now?" and the question didn't even finish leaving their lips before, once again, all at once, the entire slaughterhouse came alive. The real battle was here at last!

What ensued was a very violent and vicious battle between man (and alien) and machine. With the Superfriends on one side and the entirety of Lex's slaughterhouse on the other, the battle began. Every weapon and power of the Superfriends was activated, trying to fend off the wild, crazed machinery. And if that weren't enough, Lex also sent in his robot workers. Other mechanical monstrosities from all over the galaxy had been brought here tonight for this battle, and now, all of them were ready for the attack!

"How well-prepared was this psychopath!?" Green Arrow snarled as he fired arrow after arrow into robot after robot.

"This is Lex Luthor we're talking about here!" replied Superman, using his laser vision to immobilize some of the claws swinging from the ceiling.

"He's always prepared," Batman finished Superman's sentence, tossing more crazy gadgets and gismos in every direction.

"This is more than just prepared!" Wonder Woman replied with an icy laugh before she took out a few more rogue robots.

In the background, Nura Nal, Maggie and Brainy were busy taking on a couple Metallos that had just arrived while Alex, Green Lantern, J'onn and James were trying to protect Superman while also fending off some of the rogue machinery. The other DEO agents and Justice League members were just as busy trying to stop the oncoming swarm of metal soldiers and machinery.

But while all that chaos was going on in the slaughterhouse, two of the heroes were elsewhere, doing their best to find Lena. These were Winn and Flash. Together, the two were trying to figure out how Lex was controlling the machinery from his prison while also trying to figure out where Lena was. Knowing that Lex had nukes in the slaughterhouse was another thing they were trying to solve but, at Winn's behest, they needed to find Lena first.

"If anyone can deactivate Lex's nukes, it's her!" Winn told the Fastest Man Alive as they raced along the country in search of the missing Luthor.

"But where would Lex keep her?" Flash asked back as he sprinted along, Winn strapped to his back.

"That's the big question, isn't it?" he replied with a rueful smile, but then, they managed to find her.

Winn, being a giant fan of Superman, had managed to remember one of the Man of Steel's many battles against the evil Lex Luthor. This particular battle took them both back to Lex's mansion.

"Which is hidden under a forcefield!" he muttered in remembrance. And then he realized that the slaughterhouse had been concealed by the same type of technology. That was all he needed in order to give Flash instructions. Even though he had no idea where Lex's mansion was, he knew enough about Superman lore to be able to figure it out. Or at least narrow down the options. Then, with Flash running as fast as he was, it didn't take them too long to finally find it. Winn was able to hack into the mansion with ease once they finally got there, and they found Lena within five minutes of walking in through the doors.

"We have to hurry!" Lena replied, barely even stopping to thank them as they finally cut her free from that blasted little chair. Lex had moved her from the slaughterhouse to the mansion a few hours ago but had kept her in the chair the entire time over. She was beyond relieved to finally be out of that cursed little thing!

"Your welcome," Winn replied with a pout, but Lena kept on talking, explaining all the parts and pieces of Lex's plan that they didn't initially figure out. This included the many, many clones Lex had been making through the decade, in order to feed the machine and his own bloodlust. Lena explained all that she had seen in the slaughterhouse while it was active, explaining what Lex had done and was planning on continuing. Suffice to say, the news had shocked and disgusted Flash and Winn to their cores, but they forced themselves to remain focused. They couldn't afford to break apart now. Instead, Lena only demanded that they all go to Stryker Island at once and deal with Lex personally...

While the Superfriends continued to contend with Lex's machinery, Lena, Winn and Flash made a beeline to Lex's front door.

"You can't be here!" one of the head guards snapped, but Lena's only response was to sock him in the jaw as hard as she could.

"That was assault!" Winn panicked as the guard collapsed.

"Which we can deal with later!" Lena replied impatiently before urging Flash onward. He swiftly delivered them right to Lex's door.

"Hiya sis!" Lex grinned, waving at Lena through the bars. Lena's eyes burned with hatred. She didn't even bother speaking before pulling out a gun she'd taken from his mansion before she, Winn and Flash left.

"Now, I really don't think you want to do that," Lex smiled cheerfully up the gun at his sister.

"Oh yes I do," Lena replied, a hungry light in her eyes.

"No, I mean, you really don't want to do that," Lex explained calmly. Then he told her about the nukes. Suffice to say, Lena did not take it well.

"Well now what are we supposed to do?!" Lena snarled five minutes later, pacing around outside of Lex's cell angrily. "We can't defuse them in time to save our friends, but I don't dare do anything until I know they won't blow up!" she continued to spit angrily, demanding answers, but Flash and Winn could only watch her helplessly, just as stuck as she was. But then suddenly, a light went off in Lena's head...

A bit later, the trio was at the slaughterhouse again. They had no intention of rejoining the battle, however, choosing instead to go in a back entrance. While the heat of the battle took place in the heart of the factory, Lena and her companions stayed back to work on the machinery.

"Think you can rewire and restart this thing?" Lena whispered as she gestured to the cloning machine before handing him her DNA scanner.

"With the proper time and tools I can," Winn replied, then he got to work.

The next half hour was easily the most stressful half hour that any of them had ever endured, and that was saying something, coming from a superhero, a Luthor, and a man who worked as a technician for an alien-containment agency. But in the end, while the battle had since leaked outside of the slaughterhouse and into the front of the building, Winn managed to get the machine up and running again. As soon as the green light went on, Lena proceeded to pull open a screen on the side of the cloning machine and type out exact copies of the DNA sequences of Kara, Nia, Lyra and M'gann…

The first thing that She was aware of was coming into existence, a door swinging open in front of her, three other creatures all already looking at her in wait. These three, as she would come to know, were called Flash, Winn and Lena. And she was to be called "Kara Jr". They pulled her out of the tiny box where her creation had started and, a few minutes later, three others came out of the same box right after her. These were Lyra, M'gann and Nia Jr.

Flash, Winn and Lena were quick to explain to her Lyra, M'gann and Nia Jr. that they were in some bad, scary place called a "slaughterhouse" which was run by a bad, scary man named "Lex Luthor". Flash, Winn and Lena told the four new clones, in as simple a way as possible, that Lex and the slaughterhouse both needed to be destroyed, but in order for that to happen, these new clones were going to need to help out too. Flash, Winn and Lena separated then, Flash taking Kara Jr. while Winn took the other three. This left Lena alone. The plan was as follows: Flash was going to take Kara Jr. back to Stryker Island to launch a surprise attack on Lex. Winn was going to take the other three back to the main battle. And Lena? Well…

"Well, sis, not too surprised to see you out here amongst the other riff raff," Lex's hologram popped up once to address Lena during the thick of battle. He gave her quite the fright, but the surprise quickly turned to anger. Her eyes flashed in defiance as she snarled at him, promising to defend her friends to and with and until her very last breath. Once again, although she was still mad and hurt by the Superfriends lying to her about Kara's secret, she was even madder at Lex and was willing to swallow her pride and work with the Superfiends one last time if it meant ending Lex, forever.

"Perfect! Just as I was hoping!" Lex replied, then his hologram vanished once again as he resumed his control over the slaughterhouse machinery, this time having it all focused on Lena. As much as he had wanted and tried to protect her, his sentimentality only ran so far. Instead, after Lena had defied him enough, he decided to let her die with the rest of them. If all went well, he would kill them all tonight, so even if his company and name and legacy went down in flames, at least his enemies would too.

But little did he realize that Lena had just outsmarted him. By throwing herself to the front and center of the fight, she ensured that she would have all of Lex's attention. If that were the case, that gave "Kara Jr.", Flash and Winn just enough time to get the drop on him once again. Flash quickly escorted Kara Jr. back to Stryker Island, teaching her how to fly as he ran alongside her. Winn stayed back, finally joining the fight as well. Kara Jr really did prove to be quite the fast learner and even though her flying was still very crooked and chaotic, she at least managed not to crash into Lex's prison cell once they arrived at the jail.

"Alright, Kara Jr, remember what we talked about," Flash whispered as they approached Lex's cell. "Hit the bad man with no hair as hard as you can on the back of the neck," he pantomimed punching his own spine. "Then break the little box thing in his hands. Step on it or hit it, it doesn't matter. Just make it crack and break, ok?" he asked, pantomiming destroying the controller Lex was using to run the slaughterhouse.

Kara Jr only nodded in return. She still had no clue what was going on, but in the short time that she had been with this "Flash" person, she had understood that this "Lex" person was a very bad person who had done quite a lot of harm. The others back where she had come from wanted to stop him, but they were too busy back there to do anything. Flash had to go back to help them now, which left Kara Jr as the only free one to stop Lex. She was scared, but when Flash smiled at her, she felt better.

"Yes," she nodded at him before he ran away again. He was very fast.

"Good," he replied, moving his hands so that the shortest fingers on the inner sides of both of his hands were up while all the others were down. She didn't know what it meant and it didn't appear to do anything, but she had managed to pick up that it was a good sign that meant "yes" or "good". It made her happy to know that he was giving it to her, and she tried to copy the movement. He laughed a little before pointing with another finger at Lex's cell. Then he ran off, leaving Kara Jr alone...

Flash arrived in time to see all of his comrades finally captured by machinery.

"Ah! Bolt Boy! You're just in time!" Lex's hologram grinned, then, even faster than Flash, a metal claw shot out and grabbed his neck.

"Gaaakk!" he choked as he was suddenly dragged up in the air.

"Flash!" some of the other heroes strapped down below cried out to him, but it was too late. He could only dangle in the air while Lex smirked at them all, a wicked triumph in his eyes. Every hero who had walked into his domain was now fully present and accounted for. Victory was his!

"Let it be known on this day that I managed to stop the Man of Steel, the Girl of Steel, and all of their petty little associates!" he bellowed with his arms raised high. He still wanted nothing more than to be seen as a hero and a god, but since it seemed that those days were over, he could at least revel in the fact that he really had done something that no man had ever done before: beat his two Kryptonians! (Or at least, he was about to). With his victory assured, he switched all of his machinery back to factory settings. The slaughterhouse came to life once again and this time, the massive team-up was next on the menu.

But even though Lex had managed to beat his Kryptonian enemies, he hadn't even considered that a new one had just been born. He never got the chance to either, Kara Jr taking Flash's words to heart and genuinely hitting Lex on the back of the neck with every ounce of strength in her body. She had wanted so desperately to make him proud that she did not hold back. Lex's head went flying off of his shoulders at a speed that would've been comical, had the end result not been so horrific or graphic.

With him dead, then, Kara Jr caught sight of the little control panel that he'd been using to work the slaughterhouse. She remembered Flash's second command and, with an eager and hopeful expression, she quickly stomped it into the ground. She also succeeded in stomping a hole straight through the floor of Lex's cell, but that was lost on her as she continued to crush the controller until it was only a pile of plastic chips and wires bathed in Lex's blood.

Meanwhile, back at the slaughterhouse, all the machinery suddenly came to a halt.

"It worked!" Lena shouted at once and all the others realized that it was true. Her cunning little plan to draw Lex's attention away had worked. He'd been so fixated on her and the rest of his enemies that he totally forgot to pay attention to himself. It cost him his life.

"Thank goodness!" Nura Nal, Brainy, Flash and some of the meeker members of the Superfriends wasted no time in squeezing their way out of their metal binds. The others, meanwhile, grunted and groaned as they escaped their steel confinements. So that was the end of it. Lex was dead, the slaughterhouse was permanently shut down, the controller to it had been destroyed, and all the clones had been killed as well. Since Lex knew that the Superfriends would be coming that night, he'd quickly disposed of all of the remaining alien clones and stopped production.

"Well, actually," Winn began. "There are still four more clones..."

What happened next was a very confusing and emotional reunion. The Nals were reunited with "Nia" through her clone, and Winn with Lyra and J'onn with M'gann while Flash ran off to help bring the last Kara Clone back to the slaughterhouse. The moment Alex caught sight of her, she began to sob again, launching herself into the clone's arms and confusing the clone very much. She tilted her head and looked worriedly at Flash, but he only shook his head with a gentle smile, silently encouraging the clone to hug the weeping Alex back. She obliged, and Alex began to cry all the harder.

But while the four clones were reunited with the Superfriends, Lena took the chance to go off by herself. With the last battle finally over and done with, she wanted to take a moment for herself and try to process all that had happened that night. She was still mad about Kara's betrayal and she still fully intended upon calling Alex out on all the lies, but not yet, not right now, not after such a traumatic battle had only just ended. They were going to celebrate their hard-earned victory first, and Lena would hold her tongue for now.

So while the others remained in the front of the slaughterhouse, crying and hugging one another, Lena walked back towards the office Lex had kept her stuck in for four months. She was looking to see if there was anything else had may have left behind in the event of his death, but for once, Lena found nothing. No more puzzles or pieces. It looked like, for the first time ever, the nightmare was finally, truly over, and for once, Lex really didn't have anything else left up his sleeve. So if tonight had been their quest for peace, it looked like that quest had been a success. Peace was finally at hand, and this time, it was there to stay…


	36. Good Ending: Quest For Recovery

Date:

In the days to follow the triumph over Lex, the world began its very slow recovery. Even if the quest for peace had been successful, the quest for recovery was still underway. One the first issues pressed came from Lena, who finally demanded to know why Kara's secret had been kept from her for so very long.

"Why did you all lie to me about Kara Danvers being Supergirl?" she demanded of Alex one day, several weeks after Lex had finally been put down.

"Well at first, we were worried you would be just like your brother, Lex," Alex admitted, unable to even look Lena in the eyes as she confessed this. "But you are right that we shouldn't have kept from you once Kara went missing. By then, you had already proven yourself a hero, and it's all on us for keeping it secret for all those years after. I really am sorry... We all are..." Alex bowed her head, totally humbled before the Luthor. For a moment, then, Lena could only regard Alex coldly, still very stung by this reveal, but as she remembered all of the many adventures they had gone on together over the past quarter of a century, Lena found it within herself to forgive them all.

"I forgive you," the Luthor promised. "But you lost my trust and friendship," she added sternly.

"I understand," Alex replied, still bowing humbly before Lena's righteous anger. That was where Lena's friendship with Team Supergirl ended. Although she did respect them and was grateful for all of their help, she knew in her heart that she would no longer considered them friends, just allies, but that would have to be enough, and everyone involved in the scandal forced themselves to be content with that.

But even after Lena formally severed ties with the Superfriends, she continued to help make Lex's story known across all of the universes. The identities of everyone involved, hero, villain and victim, were all made known. The slaughterhouse was totally obliterated, destroyed, smashed to the ground, turned into nothing more than ashes and dust. Every little last item inside, including all the alien meat, was annihilated as well, totally destroyed until not even a single speck of anything was left. But even better, even anti-alien folk were disgusted with Universe Food, and a lot of people became pro-alien after the company was finally destroyed. And those who had lost loved ones to the dark plot were finally blessed with the closure and retribution they so deserved. Compensation was given to all, using all the money Universe Food had accrued over the decades.

The remainder of Lex's henchmen were also caught and arrested, and Lenny was among this count. Lenny had been found trying to escape undercover now that Lex was dead, and he might've gotten away with it too, had he not been caught trying to retrieve extra money from Lex after Lex died. It was Lenny siphoning money from Lex's account that alerted Lena to his presence and she, subsequently, had him arrested and imprisoned, treating him with all the same courtesy he and Lex had shown to her during her time in captivity.

The other heroes who did not belong in National City, or that Earth for that matter, went home, all of them still badly shaken by the story behind Universe Food, but feeling good knowing that they had finally and properly avenged the alien victims. The victims' souls and families could finally rest at ease. The healing process would still be long and hard, but at least the slaughter was over. This left the heroes of National City the chance to go back to their old and normal lives, except now they had to deal with their last four clones of Kara, Lyra, Nia and M'gann...

The quartet had since been hired to work for the DEO and they all seemed happy about it, but for the sake of everyone else's sanity, none of them were ever told too much about their predecessors, or their final gruesome fates.

"Kara Jr.!" Alex called out to her sister's clone. The clone raced over to her obediently, eyes shining.

"Yes, Alex?" she asked, having finally been taught proper English.

"We've got a mission for you," Alex gave her a sad smile, but Kara Jr. totally missed the "sad" part of it.

"You do?" her eyes flashed with excitement and Alex nodded back, forcing a happier smile to grace her aged face.

"There's a robbery at the bank on fourth, if you want to-" but before Alex could even finish, Kara Jr. had taken off, donning her revamped Supergirl suit (though of course, she had no idea that it was revamped) on the way out. The Nia clone followed her out in a revamped Dreamer suit. Lyra and M'gann, meanwhile, were back with Winn and J'onn respectively, learning how to help the DEO agents go about their daily lives.

"She's just like her predecessor, isn't she?" J'onn asked with a bittersweet smile as Kara Jr. took off with Nia Jr. in tow.

"She definitely is," Alex replied, wiping a tear away. She still would never truly get over her original sister's death, but she could rest easy now that she had finally, properly, been avenged and put to rest. And Kara Jr., although she was still far more inexperienced and new than her predecessor had been, was actually learning quite quickly and was getting along with just about everyone she ever met. That much was worth smiling for. The only problem remaining was what they were going to call this new Kara. They refused to call her Supergirl, since that title belonged to the original Kara Zor-El, but nothing else they had thought of so far sounded right.

"Ah well, we'll think of something in time," James grinned as he caught onto Alex and J'onn trying to think of new superhero names for Kara Jr.

"As for now, though, who wants some lunch?" Winn agreed, sticking his head up from a nearby computer, Lyra Jr. sitting right beside him as he taught her how to use a computer. She was a very curious and inquisitive learner and although Winn never saw her as a replacement for the wife he lost, he did come to care for this new Lyra just as well.

"Just as long as it isn't burgers, meat pies, dessert pies, pizza or pasta!" J'onn replied with a disgusted face.

"Oh, yeah, please, no more burgers! Ever!" Alex looked just as repulsed. Even though every burger and meat product in the universe was now tested for alien DNA, the fast food and meat industries had hit an all-time low after Universe Food, and hardly anyone ever ate burgers anymore. They were just too hard to stomach now.

"I'm fine with that," the others all said in unison.

"How about we go out for ice cream instead?" Maggie, who was visiting Alex, suggested, and that was an idea everyone could get behind.

An hour later, then, all of the Superfriends sat around a table at the local ice cream parlor, raising cups and cones in honor of new beginnings and resting in peace. Among others, the final count included Superman, Lois, Alura, Winn, James, Lucy, J'onn, Alex, Maggie, Cat, Jess, Dimitri, the Nals, Brainy, the four clones, and even Lena. In a sign of true goodwill, even Lena chose to show up. It had been Alex who invited her over and Lena was gracious enough to agree, just for old time's sake. Even she was not immune to the allure of nostalgia.

"I still may not agree with what you've done, but even I am not cruel enough to deny the chance to break bread with old comrades once again," she said as she sat down at the table. The four clones were also there, finally made official members of the team. They looked delighted, and all of the old members were more than happy to welcome them in. Life was going to be very strange and difficult from here on out, but with the worst of it in the past, they were all sure that they would make it through in the end.


	37. Bad Ending: A Quiet Death (Canon Ending)

Date:

By the time Kara had been gone for 20 years, Alex finally, finally surrendered.

"Alright," she muttered at last, looking absolutely devastated, yet still resolute. "Alright. I give up. I give in. Kara's gone, and she won't be coming back," she raised her hands and stepped away from the DEO meeting table. The only people in attendance were Winn, James, J'onn and Maggie, but it might as well have been the entire world just because of what an epic announcement this was.

"Alex," James was the first one to try and comfort her, but she cut him off before he could say more.

"No, no," she muttered. "It's ok, it's alright, it's been 20 years. If I haven't found her by now, then I know I won't ever find her again..." she paused, a small sob entering her voice, but she fought hard to remain resolute. "It's over. We're finished. We haven't made any progress and the president is shutting us down tomorrow. I give up and I give in. It's over, and we lost. Kara is never coming back..."

Winn and Maggie looked at her with sadness and Maggie walked over to her, giving her a gentle hug and burying her face in Alex's shoulder. Alex hugged her back, holding in her tears just as tightly as she was holding Maggie. Winn was next to join the hug, then James, then J'onn, and for a good while, the five remained like that, simply embracing one another in love and support.

Not too long after that, then, Eliza Danvers finally passed away. The grief of her missing daughter, combined with the loss of her older daughter's entire career, finally proved too much for poor old Eliza and she died from a literal broken heart. Alex had been crushed, but her one consolation came in the fact that Eliza had passed away peacefully in her sleep. There was no struggle or stress, no crying or pain, just eternal sleep. It was still a dark and difficult time for Alex and she had barely been able to attend the funeral without breaking down. But in time, even that wound healed and Alex was able to pass two headstones in the graveyard with only a few tears shed each visit.

5 years after Eliza died (and 25 for Kara), Alex found herself hosting another mourning party for herself and her few remaining friends.

"Bottoms up," she grinned dryly as she raised up a beer bottle and tipped it back. Beside her, Lena did likewise, although she was drinking scotch instead of beer. The two of them were currently sitting in Alex's apartment with Winn, James, Lucy, J'onn, Maggie, Cat, Jess, Dimitri, the Nals, Brainy and Lena. They were all busy devouring Universe Food burgers while playing a boardgame. They were playing Candy Land. Perhaps that seemed like a stupid and childish game, but sometimes, stupid and childish was just what someone needed to take their mind off of their troubles. They were already trying to down their sorrows in alcohol and fast food, so why not throw a kid's game into the mix as well?

Alex was sitting this round out, one arm wrapped around Maggie and one wrapped around her burger and beer. It was Winn, J'onn, Brainy, Cat and James who were playing, busily arguing over how long James was going to be stuck on Molasses Swamp.

"Idiots," Alex grinned affectionately as the quartet continued to bicker. Dimitri and James were the most passionate while Brainy was trying to apply logic and reasoning to explain to James why he had to remain in Molasses Swamp before offering up probabilities of how many more turns he'd have to take before he (might) get out. Cat, meanwhile, was rolling her eyes disdainfully. It was clear she was thinking along the same lines as Alex, though with less of the affection and more exasperation.

"I knew we should've played Clue," Maggie joked, nestling deeper into Alex's arms as she took another bite of her meat pie.

"Or we could've played chess," Lena joked as she set her scotch down to grab a burger.

"Oh, god," Alex pretended to recoil in horror. "Even if all of us played against you, you'd still win!" Lena only responded by playfully sticking her tongue out before she bit into her burger. It was one of those new White Meat burgers that had been released as part of the 25th anniversary celebration for Universe Food. It wasn't quite as flavorful as the others, but it was decent, and the decrease in flavor meant that it went really well with the sauces because the burger itself wasn't overpowering. But after Lena finished her burger, she grabbed her scotch glass once again and repeated Alex's statement from earlier: "Bottoms up." And she and all of the rest of the Superfriends drank once again to Supergirl's memory.

Miles and miles away, Lex Luthor was thinking the same thing, chewing his newest burger thoughtfully.

"Valerians aren't very flavorful, are they?" he mused, but he shrugged it off before dipping the burger in some BBQ and taking another bite. Yum!

ooo

About a decade after Eliza passed away, Alex finally retired from her job. Since the DEO had been shut down, she instead got a job with Maggie's police force, but both of them finally decided to call it quits for good.

"Well, old boss, how does it finally feel to join the rank of the retired?" J'onn joked, incredibly old himself by this point.

"Just as long as I ain't as old as you," she replied playfully. Although age may have taken her physical form, it had not taken her metal form at all and she was still just as sharp, bright, intelligent and witty as she'd ever been.

"Want some ice for that burn, old man?" Winn teased.

"Speak for yourself," J'onn teased back. Winn was officially the only one of the Superfriends who still had a job. Everyone else was retired. Even Lena was technically retired, having finally passed L-Corp onto an heir. She did still help run the company occasionally, but she did not consider herself an employee (or boss) anymore.

"Bottoms up?" the Luthor asked the older Danvers sister jokingly as she handed her a beer. They were celebrating Alex's retirement and, of course, there was booze at the party.

"You know me too well, Lena," Alex replied with a gentle smile. Then she and Lena clinked glasses before chugging. Right then, someone came knocking at the door. It was Cat Grant. She had retired far before anyone else in the Superfriends had, using all her savings from CatCo in order to nick a very nice and easy life for herself as soon as she could. She still supervised the company, but she was no longer, technically, its owner.

"I brought dinner!" she grinned as she stepped into the apartment, bearing bags of Universe Food goodies. Dimitri followed after, hands just as full

"Halleluiah!" Lucy and James joked in unison as they hopped up to retrieve the food from Cat, then no more was said as the old team sat around Alex's apartment and ate, and ate, and ate.

"This stuff never gets old!" Alex hummed as she ate one of their old Fire Burgers. Beside her, Brainy was having a Bacon Bomber. Winn was busily eating one of the White Meat burgers and dipping it in all the sauce containers at once, to the amusement and slight disgust of everyone else.

Miles and miles away, Lex sat in his little old cell, eating just as heartily as the Superfriends even though he was an ancient man by this point.

"But old or not, I still won!" his wrinkled face contorted into a sadistic smile as he bit into another burger. It was the original, the one made from Kara Zor-El, Superman's stupid little cousin. It was always his favorite of the burgers! He had one nearly every day, having since bribed the guards into allowing him to order the burgers. Since they had no clue that he was actually the creator of Universe Food, they would mock and deride him, calling him fat and slobby and disgusting. They accused him of being addicted to fast food. But in order to keep his ruse in place, Lex only agreed.

"You pig!" one of the guards sneered as Lex devoured another Universe Food burger.

"They really are good," Lex replied, calmly licking his fingers. "You should try one."

"I have," the guard replied. "But unlike you, I have a bit of self-control!" he raised his chin as though proud of the fact that he didn't eat burgers every day, but Lex only smiled serenely up at him, secretly pleased to realize that he had this entire jail wrapped around his little finger. Let them scoff and scorn him, they were still eating his burgers. That was all that mattered to him! He would be sure to tell his loyal, stupid little manservant, Lenny, about this later.

ooo

In the decades to come, there finally came a time when the very last member of the Superfriends passed away. Alex, Lena, Winn, James, Maggie, Lucy, J'onn, Jess. All of them finally died. After living a long, (decently) successful life, each of them in their turn finally passed away. Alex, who had been the third to die, had been the most anxious, not in the sense that she was afraid, but in the sense that she was hoping that, somehow, she might end up meeting Kara again on the other side. She still wasn't sure what she felt in regards to an afterlife, but she could only hope that if there was one, her entire family would be waiting there for her.

"I'm coming, Kara," she whispered, and that was when she finally died. From one life to a next, Alex quietly slipped away. It was a blessedly calm and easy death. The survivors, back then, had grieved bitterly, but each in their turn followed in Alex's footsteps until there was no one left to mourn.

Eventually, even Lex and Lenny kicked the bucket, both of them dying of old age with their crimes never answered for. Lenny died while vacationing on his big fancy yacht, surrounded by fine wine and beautiful women and every other material possession one could think of. He died in paradise, a quiet death, crimes forever unanswered for. Lex, meanwhile, died in squalor, passing away alone in the cold night with no one there to see it happen, not even his cellmates. But that was ok. He had won in the end, so as he felt his life finally slipping away from him for good, he could only smile. His last minutes on Earth were quite pleasant and easy and gentle. He had a quiet death.

"I won!" he rasped weakly with a twisted smile as he heard the sound of a burger wrapper coming from the next cell over. Sweet, sweet victory! Then he breathed his last, the sound of that burger wrapper echoing satisfyingly in his mind as he died. He was blessed with a quiet death, even though heaven knew that he didn't deserve a single bit of peace at all. There was enough power left in Lex's twisted machinery to keep it running for 1000 years more...

But at last, without any humans there to maintain it, his great beast took its last shuddering breaths. Its creators were both long-long-long-dead and because it only had robots to keep itself alive and functioning, it relied upon those metal humans to never fail. Of course, anyone with a head on their shoulders knew that even robots died eventually and when they died, so did the great slaughterhouse that started it all. The machinery began to spark and fizz, the metal rusted and weakened, the ovens stopped working and closing properly. The cloning machines no longer made perfect or complete copies. With Lex and Lenny dead, the robots were left to take control, but as they rusted and rotted away, that left the factory to be self-sufficient. In time, though, even that began to die.

One by one, bit by bit, Lex's great machinery shut itself down until the slaughterhouse went totally silent. It was a quiet death followed by an even quieter eternal rest. It was nothing but an abandoned factory once again. Universe Food shipped out its last package of meat and when customers clamored for more only to realize that the company had mysteriously gone dark and silent, the public could only ask how and why. The mystery became the galaxy's biggest story. It was the ultimate conspiracy. But no amount of research ever shed any light on the topic. It just seemed that Universe Foods was finished, and there was no word from anyone on the reason why. So as much as the public desired to know the truth behind the corporation's mysterious shutdown, they never got to learn the answer. Nor did they ever truly realize what it was that they had been eating all along.


End file.
